Bonds Rehashed
by Aspyn
Summary: (Chapter 700 Spoilers) Rinali Uchiha (OC), the illegitimate daughter of Sasuke Uchiha and Karin Uzumaki, has lived her life day by day waiting for her father's sparse visits. But he has another family, another daughter, Sarada Uchiha. When both girls are enrolled in the same academy, endless competition ensues as both try to outshine one another. But who will win Sasuke's favor?
1. Prologue

**_Author's note: Hey everyone! This is my first fanfiction so I'll be forever grateful if you rate &amp; review! Please let me know what you think!_**

**_Also, just a heads up, I published this FanFic before the release of Naruto Gaiden so my story will diverge quite a bit from anything canon. _**

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto._**

* * *

_Prologue_

History is a funny thing. Time and time again humanity has made mistakes. Time and time again humanity has made the promise to learn from their mistakes, to never repeat their mistakes. Yet history has the audacity to challenge humanity, to test their limits. And with a new generation comes a new challenge, a challenge in the form of blood-red hair and stark black eyes.

Against all odds, history has the audacity to repeat itself.

* * *

_Bolt Uzumaki_

Bright, yellow hair whizzes through the streets of The Village Hidden in the Leaves. Onlookers are shoved to the side as the boy hurries past them, laughing obnoxiously loud as he carries away the stolen Hokage's hat. Behind him, a couple of Chunin ninja struggle to keep up, yelling vulgar phrases his way while trying to catch their breath all the same. The boy jumps over rooftops and ducks under balconies, sprints through narrow alleyways and emerges behind crowded shops. He was unstoppable! _Come catch me now, dad!_

* * *

_Sarada Uchiha_

The young Uchiha watches behind spectacles as the boy continues to successfully evade the pursuit of Chunin shinobi. She scoffs at the scene. _All this ruckus for a stupid hat._ She knows he'll be caught eventually, not by the Chunin but by his own father. Always the same story with a recurring theme. And soon enough, there he is, the Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village, a spitting image of the son that lay before him. Sarada watches as the Hokage scolds his son with a bitter sweet satisfaction. Although she enjoys watching the chase, the apprehension remains to be her favorite part of the show, not because the boy is caught but because he finally receives the attention he's been yearning for. Sarada smiles and walks away, wondering if she'd be no different than the boy had her father spent more time in the village.

* * *

_Rinali Uchiha_

Branches and twigs scrunch in an otherwise quiet afternoon in a forest within The Village Hidden in the Mist. Red hair bounces across the small back of a girl who lurks under the shadows of a canopy of leaves. Her mother is near, looking, listening. But having a sensory-type as a mother combined with years of failed evading on the girl's part has only served to enhance her chakra-concealing abilities. She will be caught today, no doubt, but not before she gets an inch farther than yesterday, an inch closer to leaving the Mist, and maybe, just maybe, an inch closer to seeing her father.


	2. The First and Second Uchiha

**Chapter 1**

The Village Hidden in the Mist is shrouded in a blanket of dense fog that's unusually thick for the summer atmosphere. Adults and children alike, usually loitering the marketplace this time of day, are holed up inside their houses. Feral animals that so regularly wander the village are absent. The streets are empty and the roads deserted. Not a soul is in sight, save for the woman and her daughter briskly traveling through the fog towards the outskirts of the village.

The red-headed mother, whose glasses are enveloped entirely by the mist, holds her daughter's hand and is practically being dragged in the direction of the bridge. There is no doubt that the young girl has much keener vision than average, tackling the fog with full confidence. The only obstacle she faces is that of her own red bangs, bangs that hold the irritating habit of constantly blowing into her stark black eyes. Regardless, the pair carry on, inching closer and closer to the bridge with every step.

"Rinali, slow down!" the mother shouts, as her daughter continues to fervishly pull her forward.

"C'mon, mom, we're almost there!" the young girl named Rinali responds

The Great Naruto Bridge. It's said to be named after one of the greatest ninja of all time, Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. However at the sight of the bridge Rinali could only think of how odd a name Naruto is. Her father would occasionally mention Naruto, talk about him like they were old comrades, but conversations like that were rare, for even the slightest mention of Konoha would incite a barrage of questions from her mother regarding her father's _other _family.

"Look, there he is!" says Rinali, pointing straight ahead into the infinite fog.

Her mother squints her eyes but fails to see the dark figure materializing through the haze. It isn't until he's but a few feet away from her does he make his presence clear.

"Karin," he says, nodding in the direction of his former accomplice.

"Sasuke!" Karin replies, a smile splaying across her face.

"Dad!" Rinali exclaims, rushing into her father's long-awaited arms.

He hoists her up and offers her a subtle smile before the three of them retreat back into the Village Hidden in the Mist.

* * *

Rinali was ecstatic to have her father back, albeit briefly. He'd been gone away for a little over two months now, and with his return strings along the hope that perhaps this time he'll make his stay permanent. However, Rinali's hope quickly dissolves upon nightfall. Because upon nightfall is when the shouting begins.

"Two months, Sasuke! You've been away from your daughter for two months!" Her mother's voice echoed down the hall.

"I told you," Sasuke responded in a composed tone. "I've been busy."

"Busy with that pink-haired brat, I'm sure."

"Sakura's my wife, Karin. You need to accept that."

"But Rinali is still your first born!" Karin spits.

Rinali, who was leaning by her bedroom door, listens with caution. She despises the arguments her parents have every night when her father's home, yet she understands her mother's frustration. Her own frustration. But Rinali can't help but wonder that perhaps if her mother didn't yell for a single night, then maybe her father would stay a little longer.

"Then the solution is simple. Rinali will return with me."

"Absolutely not! I know you're just trying to get rid of me. Well Sasuke, you can't separate me from my daughter."

"Rinali, it's alright. You can come out," her father says, startling Rinali from where she stood. Sometimes she thinks he can see through walls.

Rinali enters the living room hesitantly, unsure of whether she should smile in an attempt to dissipate the hostile atmosphere or cast her eyes down and remain silent as rage gives rise to ruins.

"Rinali will return to Konohagakure with me and will enroll in The Academy," her father says, saving her from having the first word. "Unless, of course, she refuses." giving her a choice, for the first time. He watches her every move, or lack thereof, with earnest. Her mother, on the other hand, is shouting protests, unconcerned for Rinali's response at all.

In truth, Rinali has grown tired. She's tired of the constant yelling, tired of all the arguments between her parents. She's tired at her mom's rancor during her father's absence, and tired of her greater malice during her father's presence. She's tired of waiting by the window every day for a father who promises to visit, and tired of the shattered hope she carries with her to sleep every night when he never arrives. But even more so, she's tired of being stuck in between. Even now, as her parents argue over her, she isn't so convinced that they argue for her well-being more so than the pleasure to spite one another.

"I'll go." Rinali finally says, stunning her mom into a silence that ricochets off the walls and strikes her right in the core. She hears blood pulsing through her veins, rushing to her ears, stimulating her heart to beat faster and faster with every second that passes by. It's as if the world has stopped entirely. Her mother's yelling had been a mercy compared to the stillness that now hung between the three of them.

"Pack your bags." Her father says, his tone of finality breaking the silence if only for an instant. Rinali obliges, thankful to escape the center of an infinite void. Her mother says nothing as Rinali exits the living room, head hung low, unable to meet her mother's gaze.

* * *

_Konoha: The Village Hidden in the Leaves._

Rinali walks side by side with her dad in the direction of The Academy. Other parents follow suit around them, trailed by children of their own, beaming with excitement. Kids of all shapes and sizes trot along, some with funny hair and still more with odd clothing. And yet despite the plethora of kids that surrounded them, Rinali is the most peculiar of all, with her red hair flaming in the breeze.

And just like that, her pace dawdles, not quite sure she wants to become a shinobi after all, not quite sure leaving The Village Hidden in the Mist was the right thing to do, not quite sure leaving her own mother was the right thing to do. Her change of step does not go unnoticed by her father, who eyes her with acute intensity. But Rinali knows he doesn't care enough to ask, he never does. Sending her to The Academy is absolute.

In the distance, a mass of parents wave their kids off at the school gates. Soon, Rinali's father will do the same. Or so she thought.

"Sasuke!" someone from off to the right exclaims.

Rinali turns to see a woman with bright, pink hair smiling at her father. It was _her. _She knew. How many other people in The Hidden Leaf Village could have pink hair? Her mother mentioned it enough times, much to the point that Rinali began to loathe the sight of anything pink. She turns away before she could see the child that's with her, the unknown sibling she shares her Uchiha blood with. A hand on her shoulder signals the words Rinali know will inevitably leave her father's mouth.

"I'll be fine," Rinali says, beating him to the punchline. "See ya later, dad."

"Have fun." he says, giving her shoulder a final squeeze before leaving to join his _other _family.

But as he turned his back, Rinali couldn't help but steal a glance at the girl besides the pink-haired woman. And much to her surprise, the girl was staring back. Stark black eyes met identical ones as the two girls measured one another. The girl was small in stature, about Rinali's height, with short black hair that lied flat on her head. She wore red glasses and a face of feigned innocence that was quick to dissolve into a smirk as she turned away, to Rinali's discontent. What was she smirking at? Did she think she was better than her?

Rinali whirls her head around and marches off towards The Academy alone. She'll prove to miss four-eyes who the _real _Uchiha is. She'll prove it to her father. She'll prove it to everyone. And then her father will acknowledge her, he'll choose to walk her to the school gates, he'll choose to return to her and her mother at long last.

* * *

If silence is golden, the classroom Rinali enters is the most tainted gold of all. A cacophony of chatter, laughs, and screams from all directions inundate her ears. The only thing comforting about the noise is the veil of invisibility it provides as Rinali takes her seat in the back corner, unseen and unheard.

A few minutes later, the silhouette of a man makes his way through the cluster of kids in the classroom. Standing at the front of the class, Rinali could now see that the man wore a strange apparatus over his eyes and a coat embellished with a single bug, beetles perhaps, on each side. He was...weird, to put it bluntly.

"Alright, settle down," the man says, and slowly but surely the class falls silent. "My name is Shino Aburame but you will address me as Aburame sensei. I will be your instructor for the rest of your duration at The Academy."

"He doesn't look very impressive to me," a blonde kid sitting in front of Rinali whispers to a boy next to him, who chuckles in agreement.

"But before we get started," Aburame sensei continues, "I'll have to take attendance. First on the list is...Akimichi Chocho!

"Mphh-here," says a girl to the far right, her voice muffled by the sound of chips she's been munching from the moment she entered the classroom.

Aburame sensei checks her off the list and continues to call out name after name, getting a response each time. After all, who would miss their first day at The Academy?

As the list progresses closer to the U section of names, it dawns on Rinali that she isn't the only Uchiha in the classroom. Sitting front and center is little four-eyes, her posture one of keen interest in an otherwise uninteresting roll call of names. _Talk about being a nerd._

And just as if she had read her thoughts, four-eyes tilts her head, ever so slightly in Rinali's direction. But the way she looks at her, with ominous intensity, tells Rinali that four-eyes isn't oblivious to the two Uchiha names on the list. Two Uchiha names. One has to come before the other. And Rinali was determined to be the first to respond, to be the first Uchiha. Amazing how so much could rely on the inane sequence of two names.

"Next is…" Aburame sensei says.

Rinali clenches her jaw. Her hands ball into fists as her heart rate multiplies, thumping harshly against her chest. _This is it._

"Uchiha-"

"HERE!" two voices echo throughout the room. Four-eyes turns to glare at Rinali who is scowling in response. Whispers break out from the students around them, and every head turns to stare at the girl with the all too bright red hair sitting in the back corner of the classroom who wanted to be nothing but invisible.


	3. The Two Hokage

**Chapter 2**

"Who's that?"

"But Sarada's the only Uchiha,"

"She must be joking,"

"She's not an Uchiha,"

"Hah! Look at her hair!"

Eyes and voices and fingers all point in Rinali's direction. Humiliation and anger combine to leave her face a red more prominent than her hair, making the situation all the more worse.

"I _am _an Uchiha!" she says, slamming her fist down in frustration.

"Prove it," shouts someone from the back.

"Yeah show us your fire-style!" another exclaims.

"And your Sharingan!"

She pauses. "My...what?"

The class erupts with a laughter so deafening, it's all Rinali could do to keep from covering her ears. She realizes how much of a mistake coming to the Academy was; she doesn't belong in Konoha. She's just a permanent mistake her father wishes he never made. A bane to the Uchiha name.

While Aburame sensei is occupied with trying to quiet the class down front, Rinali grabs her bag and shoves her way through the remaining kids in the back who are still pointing, still laughing. She doesn't bother looking towards Sarada, the real name of nerdy four-eyes. No doubt she's laughing along with the rest of the class, satisfied with having won the first round of their unspoken rivalry.

* * *

Rinali walks the streets of Konoha alone, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. She walks between people she's never met, past shops she's never entered, and through streets she's never heard of. She's torn between wanting to return to the Mist and continue her simple life of isolation and wanting to stay in the Leaf to claim her name as an Uchiha. But in the end familiarity rules over foreignity, and she only pauses by her apartment long enough to collect her few belongings before heading towards the village gates.

"Leaving so soon?" asks a voice from behind Rinali.

She turns to see two men, one with grey hair and a headband covering his left eye while the rest of his face is obscured by a mask, and the other seated in a wheelchair with a black mushroom-cut to compliment his bushy eyebrows, both of whom look old enough to be her grandfather.

Rinali narrows her eyes at the odd men before replying, "It's none of your concern." She turns her back on the pair, expecting them to just leave her be and go play poker or something, but what they say next freezes Rinali right in her tracks.

"You know, Kakashi, I don't remember kids being so quick to run away back in our day," mushroom-head says.

"Especially not an Uchiha," the man named Kakashi replies.

Mushroom-head sighs. "What a shame. The power of youth is certainly not what it used to be. Kids can't take a challenge anymore."

"I couldn't agree with you more, Gai."

It wasn't enough that Rinali had already been ridiculed in front of her class during her first day at The Academy, but to now be criticized by a couple of has-beens that know not a thing about her is more than enough to set her ablaze. Her hair is a blur of red as she twirls to face them.

"Easy for you two geezers to talk when the most challenging part of your day is walking to the bathroom," she says, fuming with anger. "You have no idea what it's like to be shunned, to not belong anywhere…" her voice trails off.

"Maybe." says Kakashi, "But I had a student long ago who felt the same. He had no family nor friends, failed his Academy graduation exam 3 times, and everyone in the village wanted nothing but to be rid of him,"

"Yeah, and how'd he turn out?"

"You tell me," he says, turning his head to look at the mountain side view of the seven Hokage.

"He became Hokage?" Rinali says, eyes wide in astonishment.

"The 7th Hokage," Gai chimes in. "Not too bad for being shunned, I'd say."

She stares long and hard at the faces of the Hokage. She knows little of their history and even less of their attributions. But what she does know is that they're powerful, respected, revered. The thought that a kid who was in a position no different than her own grew up to become Hokage leaves her in awe. Maybe she could also one day become…

"By the way," Gai says, interrupting her mid-thought. "This 'old geezer' next to me is actually the 6th Hokage,"

Rinali scoffs, returning her gaze to the pair in front of her. "As if I would believe…" And suddenly it dawns on her. How many other people constantly wear a mask over their face? Her eyes shift between the old man in front of her and his stone-carved face on the mountain, her mouth agape.

"Did I say old geezer?" Rinali says, a smile of embarrassment splaying across her face. "I...I was only talking about old mushroom-head. But _your _face, it's just radiating with youth, all one-thirds of it,"

"Why thank you," he says smiling. "But old mushroom-head here is in fact the 5th Hokage," Kakashi says, patting his accomplice on the back.

"WHAT," she exclaims, her face warming to scarlet. "I meant...I meant…"

The two men chuckle at her stuttering failure of excuses. She decides not to say anything more for fear of looking more foolish than she already does.

"I gotta go," she says, running back into the Leaf Village, wanting nothing but to leave the whole situation altogether.

She hears their voices faintly behind her. "I told you she wouldn't leave. Never underestimate the power of youth, Kakashi. That makes it 661 to 660 in my favor."

"I'll give her a couple weeks before she finds out,"

"You're on, Kakashi!"

Confused at the last bit, Rinali shifts her thoughts onto more pressing matters. First thing's first, she needs to find her father. She's more than determined to get answers to a heritage she knows nothing about. And with her father's whereabouts being a constant mystery, she has no choice but to visit the next best bet. Oh, how furious her mother would be if she knew that Rinali was about to see the "pink-haired brat".


	4. The Pink-Haired Brat

**Chapter 3**

_Sakura Haruno_

Sakura Haruno was having a good day. Not only was her husband back after a few weeks' absence, but he arrived just in time to accompany their daughter, Sarada Uchiha, to her first day at The Academy. Sakura then continued her afternoon as per usual, spending a few hours at the hospital tending to minor injuries and then returning home to complete some basic housework, all the while keeping a jovial spring to her step. Yes, it was a wonderful day indeed. And soon Sarada will return home and tell her all about her first day at The Academy, and Sakura will share her own memories from when she was a child, and together the two of them will talk until evening, for when Sasuke's due to join them for dinner and perhaps share a few memories of his own from his early days at school. There wasn't a force strong enough in all of The Great Five Nations that would be able ruin her day in the slightest. That is, until she opened her front door to find a sullen looking girl with fiery red hair.

A few minutes later and that same red-headed girl (she remembered Sasuke mentioned her name was Rinali) was seated across from Sakura in her living room. She wasn't oblivious as to who this girl was nor was she oblivious as to why she was in Konoha. However, what she _was _ignorant of was as to what business this little girl could possibly have with her in the comfort of her own home.

"Shouldn't you be at The Academy?" she asks her, glancing at the clock.

"They let the brilliant kids out early," Rinali says, without missing a beat. "Other kids have to stay a little longer." She pauses. "You know..._special needs_."

She looks around and gives Sakura an apologetic look, a shrug of the shoulders. She was testing her. Testing her patience. Trying to irk her into an animus she was sure the mother of her half sister possessed. She knew because she watched Naruto constantly do the same to Sasuke back when they were all genin. Sakura stifles a grin at the memories and says nothing in response.

Silence follows.

Rinali stares at her, brow furrowed, arms crossed. Although the girl had inherited her mother's red hair, there was no doubt that she shared the same eyes as both Sasuke and Sarada. Eyes aside, the rest of her face was one of bizarre analogy to none other than the Hokage himself, not in the sense that the two are identical but more so in the blood, the similar descent the two share. The resemblance was uncanny.

When the silence and stares finally pique to a point that's too awkward to bear, Sakura finally clears her throat, puts on a genuine smile, and asks if she could get Rinali anything to drink.

"No."

"Any snacks?"

"No."

"How about some chocolate?"

"I hate chocolate."

More silence. _This little brat, _she thinks.

"Your dad won't be here until another few hours," Sakura explains. "You can come back then."

But as Sakura makes to get up, Rinali says, "I'm not here for my dad,". Her face softens as she casts her eyes down and begins to fidget with the tips of her hair. "Tell me about the Uchiha."

And finally Sakura understands. This girl just wants answers to a clan who's past goes deeper than the blood that flows within her veins. But she knows she's in no position to tell Rinali of the brutal history of the Uchiha. Even her own daughter has yet to discover the tragedy. However, there are things she _can _mention.

So she tells her parts of the Uchiha history, their role in founding The Village Hidden in the Leaves. She tells her of the fire-style, a renowned technique very popular among the Uchiha; a technique that signified a "coming of age" rite, the transition from childhood to adulthood. And she tells her of the Uchiha kekkei genkai (bloodline trait), the Sharingan. She explains the visual prowess of the Sharingan to the best of her abilities, mentioning it's ability to copy other ninjutsu, genjutsu, or taijutsu that the user witnesses in addition to it's enhanced vision. But after she's done explaining, the look of puzzlement on Rinali's face is evident, and who can blame her? Even Sakura has trouble understanding the Sharingan's true capacity. Not to mention the fact that Rinali has yet to learn the difference between the types of jutsu a shinobi can use.

"So it's basically like having super powerful eyes, right?"

"Pretty much," Sakura smiles.

"And spitting fire from your mouth?"

"That's right."

Silence falls between them once more, but unlike moments prior, this silence is not awkward at all. Rinali's brow is furrowed in concentration, her eyes glazed in deep thought as she absorbs everything Sakura has told her. She can't help but feel sympathetic towards the girl, for Sakura has only told her the smallest portion of a clan that once had the most crucial role on a scale that bordered between tranquility and total annihilation. But that conversation is for another day, from another person. _Sasuke will tell you everything when you're older, _she thinks. _You and Sarada both._

Rinali's eyes shift upwards to stare at Sakura, the hint of a question playing on her lips.

"Does...does she...does Sarada have the Sharingan?"

Sakura can't help but laugh. "The Sharingan can take years to awaken, and even then only a select few Uchiha have the ability to awaken it,".

Rinali visibly breathes a sigh of relief and her focused eyes transform into eyes of determination. "I'm going to awaken the Sharingan," she says, swinging her legs off the sofa. "_And _I'm going to learn the fire-style."

Although awakening the Sharingan and learning the fire-style anytime soon was next to impossible, Sakura doesn't deflate her hopes. She wishes her luck instead, and invites her back to visit should she have anymore questions. And for the first time since she stepped inside her home, Rinali smiles.

* * *

The young, red-headed girl steps outside, practically leaping with excitement as she heads home to practice her new jutsu; but in her elation, she all but barely avoids smacking straight into the person in front of her. Shoulder brushes shoulder as black eyes meet identical ones for the second time that day.

* * *

_**Author's Note: **_

_**Thanks for the reviews so far! I seriously appreciate all your comments!**_


	5. A Fly on the Wall

**_Chapter 4_**

_Sarada Uchiha_

Despite the circumstances, Sarada Uchiha was never one to wallow in the misery of others, whether they be friend or foe. Her first day at the Academy, her first day in the same room with her half sister -Redhead, as she liked to call her-was nothing but a disaster for the illegitimate Uchiha. The Academy kids had laughed at the red-headed anomaly, mocked her, humiliated her. And although Sarada had initially wanted the redhead to be nothing more than the object of scorn, she found herself nearly jumping to her aid, almost defending her as soon as the class began to doubt her Uchiha blood. Almost. But instead she remained seated, her back turned, her mouth shut. Redhead had dug her own grave, after all. What else was she expecting as an outsider?

Nonetheless, she couldn't help but wonder where Redhead had run off to. She supposed that she was bawling her eyes out somewhere private if not already halfway back to the Village Hidden in the Mist. Or perhaps she was back at the Academy, begging, pleading for permission to switch into another class. But of all her speculations, the last place she expected to see the redheaded Uchiha was walking out of her own house. And she looked...happy. She adjusted her glasses to ascertain she was seeing correctly, but there was no mistaking her blithe expression, even after it transformed into one of hostility upon seeing Sarada. A few seconds later and she was gone, her hair a red blur as she turned the corner and disappeared from view, as if Sarada had imagined the whole thing. Calling the scene strange was an understatement.

"Oh, hello Sarada," her mother greets as she steps across the threshold and into the house Redhead had only left moments ago. She was standing on a step stool, cleaning her bookshelf of poisons and their accompanying remedies, and aside from the few volumes placed upon the coffee table, the remainder of the meager living room appeared untouched. Dinner was cooking on the stove, engulfing the room with an aroma that smelled of crisped chicken and dumplings. Had Sarada arrived a few minutes later, she would have mistaken the day to be no different than of those prior. But she knew better.

"Mom…" she begins to ask. Her mother turns her direction, an answer already playing on her lips to a question she has yet to be asked. Or questions, rather, for Sarada has not one but multiple answers she is seeking. _Why was Redhead here? What did she want? What did you tell her? Why did she leave happy? _And her mother would respond, as she always does, for trust was not a boundary within their relationship.

And she came close to asking, to knowing. But before the first question could leave her mouth, she thought better of the situation and abandoned her resolve altogether. The redheaded girl was nothing but a temporary nuisance, and Sarada knew better than anyone that the best way to eradicate a nuisance was to ignore it entirely. So she asked what was for dinner instead.

"Chicken and dumplings." her mother smiles.

"I thought as much."

* * *

And just like that, the redhead became a thing of the past, a fly on the wall that was better left untouched. But Sarada had made one grave miscalculation, for call Rinali Uchiha what you will -a dragon in a cage, a mouse in a maze- anything but a fly on the wall.

* * *

Redhead was already sitting in class when Sarada arrived at the Academy the next day. Fortunately for her, she was already yesterday's news, so no one payed her much attention as she sat reserved in the corner. And since roll call was only a formality of the first day of school, the suspense of the previous morning had all but vaporized into a desiccated classroom of routine lectures and courses. The next day was not unlike it's predecessor, and neither was the day after that. If the redhead was invisible before, she was next to nonexistent after just a few weeks at the Academy. For the most part, the two Uchihas kept out of each other's way, save for the occasional glare they so callously tossed at one another. And for a while Sarada believed that was the most their relationship would ever surmount to. But she was wrong.

It was just another morning at the Academy; kids sluggishly shuffled to their seats, eyes still heavy with the lingering sleep their bodies so desperately craved. Even Sarada, as fervent as she was towards her education, was shifting between reality and dreamland, head bobbing to and fro as she struggled to maintain consciousness. The classroom was still, so still that when Redhead spoke, her whispers were as audible as the blaring bell that so regularly dismissed them from school every afternoon.

"Are you alright?" someone had asked her.

"I'm fine," Redhead's voice replies, slightly irritated that someone had took note of her presence.

Sarada, overcome with curiosity, turns to stare at the illegitimate Uchiha, adjusting her glasses as she does so. Like everyone else in the room, Redhead's face was one of lethargy, void of all enthusiasm at yet another mundane morning at the Academy. Upon closer inspection, however, Sarada notices subtleties that spoke of greater stress than the struggles of sleep deprivation. The redhead's eyes were ringed with concave circles that were a shade much too dark against her pastel skin. Her hair was a hot mess of flaming threads that stuck out in every direction. And her arms and hands alike were clumsily bandaged with layer upon layer of dressings that looked too chunky to be anything but uncomfortable. She looked nothing more than a ghost -no, a zombie- of her former self.

The redhead wasn't spending her evenings picking out roses or smelling daisies. She was doing something much, much dire.

And Sarada was determined to find out what it is.

* * *

_**Author's Note: I like the suggestions/predictions about what kind of powers an Uchiha-Uzumaki combo can express. You'll find out soon enough, I promise! **_

_**Thanks for reading thus far! **_


	6. Flame vs Flame

_Bolt Uzumaki_

Bolt Uzumaki was up to mischief once again. Although his body was physically in class, his mind had long since departed onto plotting his next bout of antics. He considered it a better investment of time, rather than listening to Aburame sensei lecture about the flow of chakra and the balancing of chakra and the different types of chakra and blah blah blah. He already knew all that stuff. What he didn't know, however, was whether he should desecrate the Hokage monuments or vandalize the Academy walls. Or perhaps he should pay a visit to the ladies and stop by the hot springs, where a group of girls who had expressed a keen interest in him a few weeks prior were waiting. A stupid grin crosses his face at the last thought.

His stomach made the decision for him by letting out an audible growl, not the kind that was composed of sound alone, but the kind that resonated deep within his soul, a gaping hole calling to be filled. But as luck would have it, his neighbor was none other than Chocho Akimichi, bearer of the largest chips repository in all of the Academy.

"Psst...Chocho!" he nudges. "Gimme some chips, will ya?"

Chocho, who was wolfing down her umpteenth bag of the day, paused only long enough to regard him with contempt as she _Hmph-ed _back into her chips, somehow managing to crunch more slowly and distinctly than before. Bolt groaned and slumped forward in defeat. His pranks will have to wait. The girls will have to wait. After all, his best work is never done on an empty stomach.

* * *

When class was finally dismissed for the day, Bolt's first instinct was to run straight to Ichiraku's Ramen and order a bowl of pork noodles far too large to be anything but healthy. Until he saw a certain someone running hastily in the other direction, to which he couldn't resist the urge to interrupt.

"Heya Sarada," he says, jumping in front of the dark haired girl. "Wanna join me for some ramen?"

"Out of the way, Bolt!" she says, shoving him harshly to the side.

_What's gotten into her? _Bolt wonders. He follows her gaze to a red-headed blur he can just barely make out up ahead. It was unusual for a person like Sarada to be stalking someone. The girl barely talks to her own classmates, let alone follow them home. Then he understands.

"Aha!" he cries out, halting the girl once more. "I know what you're up to,"

Sarada pauses briefly, raising an eyebrow as she skeptically looks over his triumphant smile.

"And what is that, exactly?"

"You're going to prank that girl, aren't you? You gotta let me join! he says, jumping up and down in excitement.

Sarada scoffs in disbelief at the absurdity of the idea. She resumes her pursuit, not bothering to entertain Bolt's accusations.

"Hey Sarada-"

"Shh! Just stay silent and I'll have some ramen with you later,"

"Seriously? Alright!" Bolt says, throwing a victorious fist in the air. Sarada throws him a lethal look. "Oh yeah, silent...sorry."

And although Sarada didn't invite him to tag along, Bolt does so anyways, boredom and curiosity combining to get the better of him. After all, Sarada said he only had to keep silent, and since she wasn't objecting to his company, he shadows her with keen interest to the blur ahead.

The red-headed girl was a difficult prey. She slipped between the village folk like she was silk, she turned corners and delved through alleyways in one fluid motion. Had it not been for her red hair, as bright as a bulls-eye, she would have disappeared from view altogether in a matter of seconds. Until she entered the forest, it's thick canopy providing more than enough cover for even the brightest of colors. Bolt and Sarada were stumped.

"Where the heck did she go?" Sarada whispers, turning in a 360 degree angle.

Bolt shrugs, unsure whether the question was rhetorical or not, and fearful of breaking the silence rule that was his ticket to a date...or lunch with Sarada. They walked deeper and deeper into the forest, until suddenly the ground began to rumble as a loud _thump! _hit the floor just behind them.

"Aha!" says the source of the fall. "My mom's a _sensory-type, _you can't sneak up on me,"

It was the red-headed girl. She was shorter than Bolt, and thinner than Sarada, with bruised arms and swollen hands. And yet she towered over the pair, her sensory skills compensating for her disheveled appearance.

"You dirty little stalker-"

And so the girls began to throw insults back and forth, ignoring Bolt altogether. Which was fine, since Bolt couldn't help but notice how familiar the red-head looks. But where had he seen her before?

"You just can't admit that _I'm _the better Uchiha-"

Was it at school? No, he definitely would've noticed hair that bright in his classroom. Perhaps she was one of Himawari's friends? No, his sister's friends were much younger than she. Maybe it was at Ichiraku's Ramen shop? Or maybe...

"I got it! he cries out. "You're the girl from the hot springs who was giving me googly-eyes last week,"

The two girls pause mid-argument, staring at him as if just now realizing that they were not alone, and confused even more so of his sudden outburst.

"Googly-eyes?" the red-head asks looking from him to Sarada, who merely shrugs in response. Bolt was smiling wide, cheerful that he'd figured out the red-head, and pleasantly abashed all the same that a girl who likes him was arguing with Sarada. If he ignores their words and focuses on their angry voices instead, it would be easy to imagine the two girls feuding over him rather than whatever irrelevant issue they had in mind. The thought tickled his mind, and he smiled even wider.

But then the red-head did something. Something odd. She wasn't professing her eternal love to him nor was she blushing bashfully in his direction. No, she was moving her hands instead.

Horse, serpent, ram, monkey. _Hand signs! _

Bolt wasn't sure the girl was even capable of performing any type of jutsu, but the somber look in her eyes was more than enough to send him reeling away, be it bluff or not.

"Fire-style: Fireball Jutsu!"

A massive ball of flames erupted just past his shoulder, scorching the place he stood only moments before. And although the fire was initially meant to be his demise, he couldn't help but admire its intensity, the way a girl so small can spit a searing ball so large, so fierce. He assumed it had to be a Chunin level jutsu, if not Jonin.

When the inferno finally subsided into nothing more than smoke and residue, the red-headed girl turned to face Sarada, hands on her hips, a haughty smile dancing on her lips.

"Seen what you wanted, have you?"

Bolt looks from one girl to the other, confusion surrounding the red-head's last words. His eyes fall onto her crippled hands, and understanding dawns on him as he realizes that the fireball was never meant to be an incineration. It was a demonstration of power, of the jutsu that the red-head had wounded her hands to perfect.

Sarada adjusts her glasses and smirks in response. Then her hands begin to move. Fast. Horse, serpent, ram, monkey, boar, horse, tiger. And then an explosion of red to equally match the fireball prior. Bolt stares in shock at the flaming monstrosity before him, mouth agape. _Just how strong _are _these girls?_

"Not very impressive," Sarada says, brushing her shoulders off nonchalantly. "I mastered the Fireball Technique when I was 8 years old. You're 3 years too late."

The red-head visibly flares up, clenching her jaw and balling her hands into fists with exasperation.

"I can't _stand_ you," she says, approaching Sarada with fists ready to strike.

"The feeling's mutual," Sarada replies, preparing her own fists in retaliation.

_Oh man, they're serious about fighting._ Bolt knew he should do something to stop them, but then again he didn't want to get in the way of their firestyle and become a cooked vegetable. But he couldn't stand idle as he watches the two girls destroy each other. He needs to interfere. No, it's not his business. But he really should. But he_ can't_.

And just as the two Uchihas were about to attack one another, a dark figure materialized dead center of the field, grabbing both girls by the arm, halting them midway through their assault.

"I expected more from you two," the figure says, shaming the girls before him.

"She started it!" the pair says in unison.

Of course, the dark figure was none other than Sasuke Uchiha.

"I don't want to hear it," he says stiffly before turning to address the red-headed girl in particular. "Rinali, stop picking fights with everyone you meet,". Besides him, Sarada's face turns smug. "And Sarada," he continues, "Go home. Cool your head,". The girl named Rinali snickers.

Then he turns to look at Bolt, who grimaces in apprehension of the scolding he was inevitably about to receive. For what, he didn't know. But adults somehow always found something to say about him. Especially Sasuke, his father's closest friend and oldest comrade.

"Send your father my greetings," is all he says in acknowledgement of Bolt's presence. He returns his attention back to the red-headed Uchiha. "Come now," he commands. "Your mother is waiting to see you."

And with that, the two of them exit the forest, but not before Rinali throws one last glare at her half sister, who mirrors the similar distaste. But when the pair is out of sight, only Bolt is left to bear witness as Sarada's face falls into one of utter dejection.

* * *

**_Author's Note:_****_ Congrats if you've made it this far into the story! Thanks for reading and please leave a review telling me how you like it so far and/or any predictions/suggestions you may have. I would greatly appreciate it!_**


	7. Blissful Reunion

**_Chapter 6_**

_Karin Uzumaki_

Karin Uzumaki drums her fingers restlessly as she awaits her daughter's arrival. A cup of tea sits untouched, forgotten on the table before her as its steams dances along her glasses, masking them in a blanket of white. Her thoughts wander aimlessly to the conversation she'd just had with Sasuke Uchiha.

"Someone's watching," he'd said.

"I know, I can sense him," Karin replied. "But he slips away every time I get near."

Sasuke nods in agreement. The onlooker, whoever he may be, was not an ordinary ninja. Even with her sensory skills and Sasuke's speed combined, they weren't able to so much as get a glimpse of the mysterious man.

"He's watching Sarada as well," Sasuke said. "Even before Rinali moved to the village, I sensed his presence."

"What do you think he wants?" asked Karin, a question she and Sasuke have pondered over countless times before.

"The only thing anyone has ever wanted from the Uchiha."

Of course, Sasuke was referring to the Sharingan. The most elite pair of eyes a shinobi can possess, disregarding the Rinnegan. However both Sarada and Rinali have yet to arouse the infamous eyes. From what she understood, the Sharingan can only be awoken through adversity, in moments of dire circumstances or extreme tragedy. None of which the two young girls have experienced. Yet.

"Maybe Rinali should come-"

"No," Sasuke interrupted. "The Leaf Village is the safest place she can be right now,"

Karin sighed and rubbed her head in frustration as Sasuke stared out the pub window, always searching, always watching. For the most part, they were alone, save for the two fishermen sitting in the corner and the bartender half-asleep by the counter. The place was a dingy little shop located just outside the Leaf Village, meant only for short rests and quick negotiations. And possibly, a place of refuge for an unwelcome onlooker.

"How's Rinali's training going?" Karin asked, breaking the eerie silence.

"She's managed to learn the firestyle," Sasuke said, continuing to stare outside.

Karin raises her eyebrows. "Is that so? Guess she really did inherit your Uchiha blood."

Prior to sending her daughter away to train in the Leaf Village, Karin had attempted to teach Rinali all sorts of jutsu, specifically of Uzumaki ancestry. She taught her healing jutsu, how to heal herself and others. She taught her the arts of sealing jutsu, ranging from simple formulas to the most complex, including the Adamantine Sealing Chains. But Rinali possessed no aptitude towards her red-headed lineage. The closest she came to surpassing Karin was in her hot-headed temper, an affinity that gained her more enemies than friends. Her daughter was always the epicenter of any fist fight.

Sasuke's face darkened. The fact that his daughter's blood was all but headed towards the Sharingan was among the most unsolicited news he could hear at the moment, given the circumstances.

"Prepare some glasses for Rinali," Sasuke said, getting up. "I'll expect she'll be needing them soon."

Karin nodded solemnly, her eyes following him out the door as he left to retrieve their daughter. It had been a few months since she'd last seen Rinali, and although the situation wasn't exactly pleasant, Karin couldn't help but silently rejoice at seeing her daughter at long last.

* * *

_Rinali Uchiha_

The last time Rinali had seen her mother, her face was a mixture of anger and agony. She hadn't wanted her to leave the Mist Village but Rinali had been so desperate to go someplace new. And although she'd offered up the idea that her mother accompany her, both she and her dad refused, leaving Rinali to settle into the Leaf Village on her own.

But as she walked besides her dad now, Rinali was more than determined to convince her mother to move to Konoha. And since she'd just mastered the firestyle technique, perhaps her mother would think her worthy of the commute.

"Rinali," her father says, startling her.

"Yeah?"

"Try not to fight with Sarada."

"She started it," Rinali mumbled.

If her father heard her, his face didn't show it. He'd never officially introduced her to Sarada, and Rinali was guessing for this very reason. She didn't exactly blame him for believing the fight was her doing, since she had planned to spar with the other Uchiha eventually. However there was something she _did _blame her father for, something that Sarada had mentioned that she just couldn't shake.

"Dad, why didn't you teach me the firestyle technique…3 years ago?"

Her father looked at her from the corner of his eyes as he continued to walk. His face remained neutral so Rinali had no idea whether he was taken aback by her knowledge of Sarada's firestyle or whether he was contemplating denying the situation altogether.

"I assumed you'd be more acquitted to Uzumaki techniques,"

In other words he didn't think she was capable of being an Uchiha. Rinali's face turns red, her eyes downcast. Was this the reason her father had seldom visited? Because he didn't think she had the capacity to be an Uchiha? Tears were beginning to overwhelm her eyes. Her toughness was just a guise she wore to mask the sensitive girl she really was. But she would die before she cried in the presence of another, so she took a deep breath, choked down her tears, held back her emotions, and continued walking with a stone set face not unlike her father's.

Just as they approached the pub where her mother awaited, Rinali's dad paused, stopping her in her tracks as well. He turned to face her, kneeling down to her level as she tried her best to blink away any remaining redness her eyes may still possess.

"Good job on the firestyle," he said, a miniscule smile hinting at his lips. "I'm proud of you."

And just like Rinali's spirits jumped so high that she'd all but forgotten the rage she'd held towards Sarada and the resentment she'd held towards her father only moments prior. In fact, she was in such a euphoric state that when she entered the pub to greet her mother, she hardly noticed the bags that outlined her mother's eyes or her emaciated arms, far too thin to be healthy, as they surrounded her in blissful reunion.

* * *

**_Author's Note:_****_ Thanks for reading! Just a few things:_**

**_-I hope this chapter answered some of the questions you guys had regarding Rinali's jutsu abilities._**

**_-I'll probably be updating a bit slower since Naruto Gaiden has finally released, and I want to try and integrate some of the new characters into my story. _**


	8. Rekindled Hope

**_Chapter 7_**

_Rinali Uchiha_

"As you are all well aware," begins Aburame sensei. "Your graduation exams are only a few weeks away,"

"Sweet!"

"Finally!"

"Yes!"

The entire classroom jittered with excitement at the thought of leaving the Academy behind and becoming ninjas at last. From getting their headbands to being assigned to teams to completing missions; becoming a full fledged shinobi was anything an Academy student wished for.

"Don't get too excited just yet," Aburame sensei interrupts. "Expect yourself to be tested on anything we learned in class. Be prepared and practice hard."

After learning the fire-style technique, all Rinali could think of was becoming a ninja. She could visualize it so clearly, wearing her Leaf Village headband, going on missions, and the best part: learning new jutsu. But with such a blissful image followed a very ominous prospect, the prospect of her failure. Around her, everyone beamed with excitement, some already halfway out of their seats, as if they were ready to take the exam at that moment. Others groaned and complained of how troubling exams were, but still none showed the same dismay Rinali did. _Well of course, they've been training here since they were born. _Being from another village sucked.

Afterwards, Rinali walked the streets of Konoha alone, contemplating the possible jutsu she'll be asked to perform. But what if she's _not _tested on jutsu? What if they ask her to demonstrate chakra control by walking on water? Or seeing through genjutsu? Neither of which she knew how to do. She grabs her head in frustration. _This is bad, this is so bad. _And what's worse is she was competing with Sarada. Little miss perfect. She can't, she _won't_, lose to the likes of her. No, she'll find a way. Maybe her fire-style will be enough to impress the proctors into letting her pass. Or maybe she could-

"Ouch!"

Her shoulder slams into a young boy in front of her, who recoils from the impact as the two collide. Rinali falls to the ground in a cloud of dust, her hands scraping the floor, red oozing from the bridge of her elbow. The boy in front of her, still standing, was a few inches taller than she, with unruly hair as white as snow, and eyes sharper than a kunai blade. Rinali recognized him as a kid that sits a few seats in front of her at the Academy.

"I'm sorry," he says, extending an arm out to help her up. "I should've been more careful."

Rinali takes his hand and is lifted up on her feet. "No, it's my fault," she says, dusting off her beige kimono. "I was too busy worrying about that dumb exam to see where I was going."

"You too, huh? I thought I was the only one,"

She narrows her eyes at him. He didn't seem like the type to slack on his training. She didn't know what it was about him, the confident way he stood, or his unwavering eyes, but if anything, he seemed like a prodigy student. He must have noticed the cynical stare she gave him because he smiled and extended his hand out before continuing, "My name is Mitsuki, I'm from another village as well."

"Rinali," she says, shaking his hand in response, startled by the fact that there was another foreigner in the village.

"You should probably get that checked out," he says, pointing to her bloody elbow.

"Right." she says, glancing down at the wound. But her elbow wasn't the only problem. Her hands hurt like crazy, and upon closer inspection, she noticed that they were covered in blisters. A single touch sent a searing pain shooting through her palms. Even bending her fingers proved to be a struggle. _But they just finished healing, _she groaned to herself.

"Once you heal, we could train together if you'd like," Mitsuki says. "Better the chances of our passing."

Rinali glances up at him, surprised that someone actually wanted to train with her. She was more accustomed to making enemies, not friends.

"Yeah," she says, smiling. "That'd be great."

He gives her a final nod before turning his back in farewell. Rinali stands frozen, clutching her elbow delicately with the wrist of her hand, careful not to irritate the blisters. Was she finally about to make a friend after several weeks of solitude in the Leaf Village?

She alters her original path and sprints in the direction of the Konoha Hospital. Treating her hands was her maximum priority. If Mitsuki is anything like what she expects him to be, then she's guaranteed to pass the graduation exams. Little four-eyes wasn't about to beat her that easily.

Once inside the hospital, she's treated by none other than Sakura Haruno. _Just perfect_. Although Rinali doesn't particularly hate Sakura, she can't help but feel guilt in her presence. Her candid compassion made it all the more worse.

"Oh, Rinali. What brings you here?" she asks.

Rinali extends her hands out for inspection, hoping that their condition isn't as critical as the pain she feels. Sakura's hands begin glowing with a benign green chakra that immediately eases the stinging of her hands, and relief overcomes her as she figures that she won't have to delay her training.

"Your injuries are minor," Sakura informs her. "But your hands show several layers of untreated abrasions," Her eyebrows knit together in concern as she asks, "What happened?"

Rinali flushes crimson, embarrassed that Sakura was able to see through past wounds from her fire-style training. A wave of nostalgia fills her as she remembers her mom who, akin to Sakura, could always see far below the surface of any injury.

"Nothing, just...fighting crime and all. Protecting the Hidden Leaf Village. You can thank me later."

Sakura shoots her a dubious look that asked for the truth. Rinali lets out a sigh before replying, "Training."

"Well it looks like you'll have to postpone your training for a few days, give your hands time to heal,"

"What? No way! The graduation exams are soon, I have to practice as much as I can!"

"Your injuries are minor for now but without giving them proper time to heal, permanent tissue damage can occur," Her tone lowers, deepens, the softness it contained earlier all but vanishing. "If that happens, you'll never be able to perform jutsu again."

Rinali's mouth falls agape, her eyes wide in shock. "But...but…"

"No buts," Sakura says, abandoning her hands to patch her bloodied elbow. "Frankly I'm quite surprised you haven't inherited your mother's regenerative abilities. She could heal herself, you know?"

"Yeah," Rinali says, grief stricken, eyes cast down in defeat. "I know."

After Sakura finished bandaging her up, Rinali offered her thanks and left with an aura completely polar of that she felt when she had initially entered. The elation she had of making a friend, of the possibility of passing the graduation exams, of becoming a ninja, all dissolved into despondency, into failure. _Sorry, Mom. Sorry, Dad. Sorry, Mitsuki._

Instead of returning home, she wandered aimlessly within the village, consumed by her own miserable thoughts, paying no attention to her surroundings. She thought she had a chance, she thought she could prove to her dad that she was worthy of being an Uchiha. But she'd shunned her school training to focus on her fire-style technique. She wasn't even sure exactly what Aburame sensei had taught for the past couple weeks. And now she was about to pay the price.

"Hey, c'mon! I gotta ask my dad something," a voice loudly proclaims. "It's important!"

"Not now, Boruto. The Hokage's a busy man,"

"But it's about the graduation exams!"

Rinali surfaces back into reality at the mention of the exams. The obnoxious blonde haired kid from the other day was jogging besides an older looking man with a beard, demanding he let him inside to see his father.

"Fine," the man sighs. "Don't be too long on him."

The kid leaps in triumph and begins sprinting up the steps towards the Hokage's office.

_The Hokage...that's it!_

"Hey, wait!" Rinali says, running to catch up with the blonde kid. "I'm coming too,"

He turns to look at her briefly before shrugging and resuming his ascent. Rinali follows with rekindled hope. After all, the Hokage knows better than anyone else what it's like to be a failure. Surely, he'll understand.

"Man, kids are so troublesome," she hears the man behind them groan.

And together, the three of them enter the office and are met with none other than the 7th Hokage himself.

* * *

_**Author's Note:**_

_**Sorry for the long hiatus! I've been super busy with finals exams (kind of ironic, right?) Anyways, hope you guys liked this chapter!**_

_**Also a special shout-out to misslaly19 who designed the cover photo for my story. Thank you so much, it's amazing!**_


	9. Sly Requests

**Chapter 8**

_Naruto Uzumaki_

The 7th Hokage sits alone in his office, hands moving vigorously across a keyboard he'll soon have to replace, with keys too worn to decipher and others growing increasingly unsteady, barely maintaining their attachment to the shabby laptop that sits in front of Naruto Uzumaki. With the advancement of technology, the renowned title of Hokage was a lot more work than it used to be in years prior; mission requests that once took days to arrive now inundate Naruto in an instant, the constant _beep_-ing sound of incoming requests following him home to his sleep, a persistent sound refusing to leave his ears.

Naruto takes a moment to mute the irritating noise, lifting his hands off the keyboard and flexing his arms, numb with the stiffness of another day's work. A quick glance at the clock tells him that Hinata's just about finished preparing dinner, another dinner that he'll fail to attend. With a sigh of dismay, his eyes turn to settle on the family photo resting atop his desk. Hinata and Himawari smile up at his disheveled self, with Boruto offering up nothing more than his usual frown.

Boruto. He was Naruto's first child, his only son; he was a part of the family Naruto had long yearned for as a child in solitude. Yet the responsibilities of being Hokage robbed him of spending time with anyone that wasn't concerned in political matters. And although his absence is disappointing to Hinata and Himawari as well, he wasn't oblivious to the fact it was most difficult for Boruto in particular. Guilt stricken, Naruto tears his eyes away from the photograph and pinches the bridge of his nose in frustration. He wishes there was another way, a way to fulfill his duties as Hokage _and_ spend plentiful amounts of time with his family, the perfect life just as he'd dreamed when he was younger. But alas, this was the harsh reality of adulthood.

And just as if the thoughts of his son unleashed a seal to summon him forth, the door opened with a _slam!_ as Boruto entered the room, followed by Shikamaru and a red-headed girl whom Naruto doesn't recall ever seeing within the boundaries of the Leaf Village.

"Yo, pops!" the young Uzumaki greets.

"Boruto?" Naruto says, startled at the boy's sudden appearance. "You shouldn't be out this late, your mother's going to be worried sick."

"I know, I know," Boruto begins. "But I needed to ask you something. Something important."

Naruto raises a curious eyebrow at his son, who takes the silence as his cue to ask.

"What do we gotta know for the graduation exam?"

Naruto sighs in exasperation. "You know I can't tell you that,"

"Aw, c'mon pops!" he pleads. "Just give me a hint, _anything_."

The Hokage takes a moment to regard his son, the stress and the pressure he must feel with the graduation exams a mere couple weeks away. Recalling the weight of the exam, and the tension that so often accompanies it, he can't help but sympathize with Boruto, with feeling like your whole life, your entire future, all sums up to the passing or failing of The Academy. "I'm sorry, Boruto," he says, kneeling down to meet his son's gaze, a brilliant sea of blue akin to his own. "I know you'll pass," he continues, patting his brilliant blonde head. "I believe in you."

Boruto's face softens, disappointment combined with dejection evident in his eyes. And just as he opened his mouth to speak, he was interrupted by a loud _crash!_ that sent papers flying in every direction and scrolls unrolling across the office floor, everything coming to settle in a pool of frenzy beneath the Hokage's feet.

At the climax of the chaos was the red-headed girl who'd entered earlier along with Boruto and Shikamaru. She stood frozen, appalled by the ruckus she created, her head the only part of her moving as it bobbed up and down, looking from the Hokage to the clutter on the floor and back to the Hokage again. She laughed nervously, embarrassment coloring her face a shade not unlike her own hair. "Uh, I can clean that up," she finally says.

Shikamaru exhales and steps forward. "Alright, you two have bothered the Hokage enough for one day," he says, moving to escort the pair of children outside.

"But..no, wait!" the girl says, stumbling forward.

Naruto eyes the girl with keen interest. She was young, about Boruto's age, although he doesn't recall ever seeing her in his son's presence prior to this day. Her hair, a unique shade of vivid red, was unlike that he's ever encountered within the Leaf Village, with bangs that spilled over her stark black eyes, eyes that held a familiarity he struggled to pinpoint, a gaze he knew all too well. But who?

Curiosity overwhelms the Hokage, and just as the girl composes herself for whatever request she's about to make, an eager anticipation dancing across her eyes, he asks, "Hey kid, what's your name?"

The question seemed to startle the girl, for her animated eyes narrowed into skepticism. She crossed her arms and frowned before replying, "Seriously? You're Hokage and you don't even know who comes and gos from your own village?"

It was Naruto's turn to laugh nervously. "Being Hokage's a pretty busy job," he says. "There's just so much to keep track of,"

"Mhm, it's no wonder you failed the graduation exam 3 times,"

"Hey, who told you that?"

"The 5th and 6th Hokage," she says, smiling arrogantly.

A wide grin spreads across Naruto's face. "The 5th Hokage, huh?" He knew that grandma Tsunade's been long gone for quite sometime now, spending most of her days in distant villages, gambling away whatever money she has left.

"Yup," she says, the smile still splayed across her face. "He also told me you were supposed to be some super great ninja or something but," she looks him up and down, "I have my doubts."

"Did the 5th Hokage tell you that _he_ was also a woman?" Naruto says, laughing out loud at whoever was witty enough to play such a foul prank on an innocent young girl.

The red-head's smile wipes clean off her face as Boruto and Shikamaru chime in with laughter. She rushes over to the widespread window looking out at the Hokage monuments to ascertain that the 5th Hokage was indeed a woman. "Dumb old geezers," she mutters under her breath.

"Listen kid, just tell me who you are," Naruto says, returning to the situation at hand.

"No."

"Please?"

"Nuh-uh."

"C'mon!"

"Forget it!"

Shikamaru stepped in at that moment, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Alright that's enough," he says, his irritated expression evident on his face. "This is Rinali Uchiha. Sasuke's other kid."

The girl named Rinali visibly flinched at the last sentence, clearly not fond of being considered as a distinct part of the Uchiha clan.

"Huh? _Her?_ You're not like Sasuke at all," Naruto says, bemused.

"Good job, old man. Maybe _you_ should be Hokage instead of this geezer," she says bitterly to Shikamaru.

Naruto chuckles. This girl was definitely a stubborn one, not unlike him when he was younger. The thought of Sasuke attempting to keep his patience with a child such as she elicited a wide smile on his face.

"I'm leaving," the red-head says suddenly, turning to face the door.

"Hey, wait, didn't you need something?" Naruto asks her.

"Nothing _you_ can give me," she replies, criticism still laced in her tone.

With that she exits the room, leaving the 7th Hokage muddled behind his desk at this odd encounter and even more entertained with the young girl's temper, a temper with an odd warmth, like he was finally seeing someone long forgotten. And with a pang he remembers exactly who the girl reminds him of. The hair, the temper, the nerve, all akin to none other than the Red Hot-Blooded Habanero. His mother.

* * *

Rinali Uchiha skips blissfully throughout the Leaf Village, smiling long and wide to herself as she returns to her apartment with a buoyancy opposite to that she felt earlier in the day. She was no longer worried about the graduation exam, not at all. If anything, the next couple of weeks would be total and utter agony waiting for the exam date to come. The nervousness she felt prior, the stress, the worry - all gone. There wasn't a doubt in her mind she'd graduate now, not because of anything the Hokage did or said, no. But rather because of what he failed to see while too preoccupied soothing his son. Because he failed to see the theft of a scroll, a scroll now dancing inside the bag of a red-headed girl, a scroll labeled 'Graduation Exam'.

* * *

_**Author's Note:**__** Thanks for the reviews guys, I'm glad you're liking the story so far!**_

_**Just so answer a few questions to some anons: Rinali/Naruto don't know that the other is part Uzumaki. They'll probably find out eventually, but it won't really play a big factor in the story.**_

_**And regarding Rinali's conception: I have a whole back story planned out for that aspect, but to answer your question simply, she was conceived before Sasuke's marriage.**_

_**Thanks again to everyone reading thus far!**_


	10. Sea of Darkness

**_Chapter 9_**

Boruto Uzumaki

Beads of sweat slide down the young Uzumaki's face as his hands weave through sign after sign, spinning through jutsu after jutsu. He struggles to catch his breath, pausing to bend his back forward, hands on his knees, inhaling and exhaling rigorously. He knew everything; he was certain to pass. He should be relaxing at home or playing ninja somewhere with his friends. Yet all he could think of was the graduation exam. But it was so much more than an exam to him. It was his first chance to finally prove he's different than his father, _better. _All he had to do was pass the graduation exam on his first try. So he practiced and practiced and practiced.

"You shouldn't push yourself so hard, big brother," his sister Himawari says, approaching the empty training grounds from behind.

"I _have _to," Boruto responds through clenched teeth.

"Because our Dad's the Hokage?" she asks, taking a seat on a log nearby.

"Because I'm the Hokage's son." She gives him a questioning look. "Ah you wouldn't understand," he says waving her off. _Nobody understands._

And how could they? None of the other kids were constantly being compared to their parents. All Boruto ever heard out of anyone was how alike he was to his father. _Look at those eyes, just like the Hokage's! _Or when he talked back to his teachers at the Academy: _The same attitude as his father. _Even when he was rebellious, vandalizing the Hokage monuments, something he thought no one in history had the audacity to do, and yet all he heard was laughs, _Remember when Naruto used to do that! _Himawari got attention, sure. Just not _that_ kind of attention.

Boruto caught himself staring off into nothingness, lost in his own thoughts once more. He shakes his head in frustration and returns his gaze to his sister still sitting on the log. Himawari stares back with wide eyes, swinging her feet to and fro, a silent grin plastered on her face.

"Now leave, you're distracting me from training, ya know,"

She gets up from the log but doesn't depart the training grounds. Instead she lingers by a rose bush nearby, staring at the blossoming red flowers with a longing to pluck them but refraining from doing so, their sharp thorns holding the promise of pricking blood. Despite the fact, she reaches out a delicate arm and caresses the stem lightly with the tips of her fingers.

"You shouldn't be afraid to fail," she finally says, her blue eyes fixated on the bush of red before her. Her hand clasps the stalk of a flower with wide expanding petals, open to reveal the yellow eye that lies within its center. "Everything comes to pass in time, anyways." She plucks a red petal off and watches as it twirls in place repeatedly before acquiescing to the ardent force of the wind, gliding away into the depths of the ninja world.

"Hey, I'm not scared of failing, alright? There's no way!"

Himawari giggles and pops her finger, streaked with a thin line of blood, into the small of her mouth, still managing to flash her undying smile. "Good luck, big brother," she says as she walks away, a path of red petals dancing behind her.

Boruto watches her back as it disappears into the distance, a puzzled look smeared across his face. _She's so weird. _He picks up a stray petal left behind by his sister. _But maybe she's right. _He flicks the red leaf away as he exits the training grounds as well, thinking that perhaps he deserves a break after his constant training. Surely a short rest with his friends could do no harm, right? _Now, to find Mitsuki._

* * *

Sarada Uchiha

Sarada walks side by side with Chouchou Akimichi, her closest friend without a doubt. And just like every other Academy kid within the Leaf Village, the two girls were discussing nothing other than the graduation exam.

"What's the point of becoming a ninja, anways?" Sarada wonders aloud, not expecting Chouchou to have the answer but finding solace in asking her all the same.

"Because our parents want us to," Chouchou replies, crunching avidly on a bag of salted chips.

Sarada sighs. She couldn't understand the purpose of the graduation exam, of the Academy, of being a shinobi. If anything, the whole process seemed more like a burden than an honor.

"I don't even think my dad really cares about what becomes of me," Sarada says.

"You're an Uchiha, of course he cares. And besides," Chouchou says through munches. "What about that other girl? With the red hair?

Sarada had completely forgotten about Rinali. "Yeah, what about her?"

Chouchou shrugs. "She'll be stepping all over you if she passes and you don't,"

"That's not going to happen," Sarada says bitterly, the thought inviting a wave of resent in her tone. "I still think it's pointless, but I _am _taking the graduation exam," she says as she clasps her fist into her open palm.

"I wish I had your kind of energy," Chouchou responds glumly to Sarada's transformed behavior. "Is she really an Uchiha, anyways?" she asks, returning to the topic of the red-headed anomaly.

"She says she is," Sarada crosses her arms. "But I have my doubts."

Chouchou nods in agreement, and the pair of girls continue walking aimlessly within the Leaf Village until Chouchou stumbles upon her dad, who grudgingly trudges off to train with him upon his insistence. Left alone now, with her mother working the hospital and her father off wandering who knows where, Sarada can think of nothing else to do but return to her vacant home. And that's what she had planned, until she bumped into Boruto, that is.

"Heya Sarada, do you know where Mitsuki is?" the blonde boy asks.

"How should I know?" She responds. But seeing as she has nothing better to do and no one waiting for her at home, she adds, "I'll help you find him."

And together the two traverse through Konoha, keeping their eyes peeled for a head of white hair as they scan the inhabitants of the village they call home. They find him not long after on a path headed straight into the forest, accompanied by none other than a head of fiery red hair.

"Yo, Mitsuki!" Boruto calls out.

The two kids turn to face Sarada and Boruto. Mitsuki waves while Rinali scowls next to him.

"What is _she _doing here?" Rinali asks aloud, not bothering to hide her sour tone.

"It's not like I came to see you," Sarada retorts.

"Sheesh, will you guys cut it out already," Boruto interrupts. "We just came here to see if Mitsuki wanted to hang out. You can come too," he says, addressing Rinali.

"We were just about to start training," Mitsuki responds. "But you two are welcome to join us,"

At that moment, both Sarada and her half-sister erupt into a flurry of protests.

"No way!"

"I'm not training with her!"

"Get lost!"

"I was here first!"

"Actually," Mitsuki says, stepping past Boruto and the angry pair of girls. "I should be getting home. I'll see you all in class," he says, retreating back in the direction of the village.

Sarada glares at Rinali who returns the gaze, while Boruto stands idly by, unsure of whether to follow Mitsuki or linger a bit longer, just to make sure they don't accidently set the forest on fire or anything.

"Don't bother training, there's no way you'll pass the graduation exam, anyways,"

Rinali smirks. "Ha! Not only am I going to pass but I'm gonna score better than you," she says, jabbing Sarada straight in the chest.

Sarada shoves the girl away from her, to which the red-head responds with lifting her fists. And with no one to stop them this time around, the two girls charge at each other, kicking and shoving and punching and pushing.

"Hey, stop!" Boruto shouts, trying to intervene, but it was useless; they'd thrust him out of the way every time he attempted to jump between them. But at least they weren't using the fire-style, right?

Wrong.

Once Sarada gained her ground, her hands began speeding through hand signs. _Horse. Serpant. Ram. Monkey._

Across from her, Rinali was doing the same. Only her hands weren't as fast, the thick bandaging hindering their rate. It was Sarada's turn to smirk. _It's over._

But just before she finished weaving the final hand sign that would incinerate the red-head before her, she's distracted by Boruto's voice as he yells, a little too loudly, "Hey, what's that?"

Both girls turn to look at the object he's pointing to. A small scroll lay abandoned a few feet away from the ruckus, covered in specks of dirt but its seal still readable all the same.

Boruto tilts his head. "Graduation…exam?"

And for an eerie moment the three of them stay still, stay silent, the weight of the meaning behind those two words sinking in.

Then Rinali begins to run. She grabs the scroll and delves deep within the underbrush of the forest ahead, the sinking sun failing to alleviate the situation.

But Sarada wasn't about to let her get away that easily. Not until she exposes the red-head for who she really is: a cheater. Sarada springs after the girl, the thick canopy of the forest and the onset of night combining to swallow her whole in a sea of darkness.


	11. Catch Me If You Can

**_Chapter 10_**

Rinali Uchiha

"Dammit!" Rinali curses under her breath. How could she have been so careless? It's all because of that wretched Sarada; whenever she's around her she loses any common sense and is overcome with fury, with rage. Rinali acted foolishly. She had the scroll, she had the answers, victory was within her grasp. So why incite the fight? _Dumb Rinali, so dumb!_

She could hear footsteps behind her, the crunching of leaves as two pairs of feet pursue her deeper into the night. She's guessing the blonde boy must have tagged along then, not that he'd be much help anyways. Had they not learned anything from the last time they tried to follow her? Stealth is her specialty.

Seeing as they'd discovered the stolen scroll, Rinali decides to entertain herself with the oblivious chasers. She doubles over and turns back towards the sound of the oncoming footsteps, watching silently from atop a tree branch nearby as Boruto and Sarada stumble around in the dark, traveling in an otherwise wrong direction.

"Boruto, do you see anything?" Sarada asks, looking left and right to no avail.

"I can't even see my own hand, ya know!" Boruto replies, squinting at his outstretched fingertips.

Sarada quickly shushes him. "Quiet! Or she'll hear us coming," she whispers.

"Maybe we should just turn back,"

"Not a chance! You saw what she had,"

"What if it was something else?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know, something else!"

Sarada scoffs. Boruto groans as he walks into a net of spiderwebs. Above the pair, a full moon glows behind a veil of leaves. An owl hoots somewhere off in the distance. Crickets sing louder and louder within the shrubbery. The night was only just beginning.

"Looking for me?" Rinali shouts from atop the branch.

Both Sarada and Boruto immediately turn towards her voice, only to hear it echo again from behind them.

"I'm over here!" the red-headed Uchiha mocks.

The two kids whirl around again, only to be greeted by the infinite blackness that continues to engulf them.

"Quit hiding!" Sarada yells off into the void. "You coward,"

"Sarada, don't provoke her," Boruto says uneasily.

_Coward?! _Rinali almost jumps down to face her. Almost. But she wasn't about to make the same mistake as earlier, not again. She gulps down her rising anger and grounds her nails into the tree trunk besides her. So long as she maintains her cover, she has the upper-hand.

Rinali could see Sarada's frustration growing. Her brow was furrowed in concentration as she scanned the greenery around her, masked by several layers of black. Rinali wasn't sure what the girl was hoping to find; yes, her hair was red but it didn't glow in the dark or anything. The playing ground was equal.

She continues to watch as Sarada shuffles around, bending over before straightening back up again, only to bend forward once more. _What is she doing? _Rinali barely has time to register Sarada's moving hands as they quickly performed the fire-style jutsu, setting a patch of sticks and leaves ablaze with a light strong enough to reveal the point of where she stood idle on a tree branch.

"Found you!" Sarada says, leaping quickly in Rinali's direction.

_So _that's _what she was doing. _She should've been more cautious. But waiting around was getting pretty boring, anyways.

"Catch me if you can!" Rinali taunts, laughing as she advances further into the forest.

She jumps over rocks and ducks behind trees, runs through shrubbery and slides under branches. She was fast, she was silent, she was unstoppable. She swipes her bangs out of her eyes as she continues to evade the duo. Their efforts are useless; it's like trying to catch smoke. She swiftly turns corners then doubles over to confuse her pursuers. She should have lost them long ago by now. So how on earth was Sarada still behind her?

Sarada Uchiha

She didn't know what had happened, what had changed. All she knew was that one moment she was a blind mouse staggering in the dark and now she was a hawk flying beyond the trees. The prey was now the predator as Sarada gained increasing ground on the red-head in front of her. Boruto was following close behind, keeping silent at the whole ordeal. It was an odd sort of quiet, atypical of his usual noisy behavior; in fact, she was lucky the young Uzumaki was able to keep up at all. But Sarada didn't have time to dwell on that matter now. Because she could finally _see_.

Ahead of her, Rinali was starting to break a sweat. It was evident in her steps, the way she didn't bother to conceal the twigs and branches crunching underneath her, or the careless manner in the path she took, rough and unsteady against the midnight sky. Her priority now lay only in escaping Sarada and Boruto.

The path was coming to a close. The ground was growing steeper and soon there would be nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. _It's over._

Sarada turns the corner just in time to see red hair bouncing along the small back of the girl as she runs into a dank cave situated at the end of the forest. Sarada slows down her pace, taking time to catch her breath as Boruto lands besides her doing the same.

"She's in there," Boruto says, panting as he points in the direction of the cave.

Sarada nods. "It doesn't matter, we got her now,"

And together the two approach the cave, small enough to provide sanctuary for a young girl but not large enough to contain anything more threatening than that. Grey stone surrounds the place, with a dirt laden ground and stalactites that hang like frozen icicles above, dew steadily dripping down to create an eerie echo that resonates off the concrete walls.

Boruto and Sarada briefly glance at each other, a glance that reads _Do you really want to do this?_

There wasn't a doubt in Sarada's mind._ Absolutely. _

They cautiously enter the cave, keeping their eyes peeled as they scan their surroundings. It was dark, much darker than outside. Lighting a fire would only serve to blind them, a risk Sarada wasn't willing to take. Step by step, they proceed deeper into the cave, with the occasional dripping of water startling them into a defensive position.

And just as Sarada was considering turning back, giving up, she spots a blur of red.

"Over there!" she shouts, pointing in the direction she last saw the red-headed anomaly.

But her shout was drowned out by something much louder, an explosion, a tumbling and crashing of rocks falling from above. Even worse was the sound of Boruto's screams, screams of agony as they pierced an otherwise silent night.

* * *

**_Author's Note: Sorry for the late chapter, I was going through a severe writing slump. Anyways, hope you guys like this chapter!_**


	12. Painful Endings

**_Chapter 11_**

_Boruto Uzumaki_

Pain. So much pain. Was there blood? Maybe. Boruto had no idea what was going on around him; he didn't know where Sarada was, let alone Rinali. He was only conscious of the pain that coursed through his veins and around his eyes, a stinging so vile that he writhed in agony as he continually tried to rub the feeling away. But his efforts were futile.

He could hear someone yelling besides him, Sarada most likely. She was shaking him, attempting to pull his hands from his eyes, but she might as well be trying to detach one of his limbs. His hands were glued to his face and no amount of tugging was about to free them.

"Boruto? Boruto! Are you alright? Talk to me!" Sarada's panicked voice came to him. It seemed distant but it was more than he was able to hear a few minutes prior. His senses were slowly returning to him, and he realized he was face down on the floor, cold and dry against his burning skin. He could feel a rivulet of lukewarm liquid rushing down his right arm; he could taste the bitter dust that masked his face. His elbows were scathed, his ankles were sore. He had fallen sometime between the moment he and Sarada had entered the cave until now, although he has no recollection of exactly when. One second he was scanning the cave, squinting his eyes in vain as he attempted to see beyond the blackness, and the next second his eyes were on fire, being consumed by a burning sensation far worse than any pain he'd ever endured in his life. It was pure torture.

Sarada was panting next to Boruto. She had both arms around him, one caressing his back and the other coaxing his hands off his face. He could feel her whole body shaking, fear stricken; and for someone as composed as Sarada to show fear, well, meant things were far past fun and games. A drip of water falls on his cheek, too warm to be anything but Sarada's own grieving tears.

"This is all your fault!" she shouts to who he would assume is Rinali.

Footsteps. Not too close but not too far. Slow and hesitant.

"I...I didn't mean to…"

"Well you did!" Sarada's voice was shaking. With anger, with sorrow, with both.

"Let me help-"

"You've done enough!"

More footsteps. Coming closer.

"Maybe if you didn't chase me-"

"Do you seriously have the nerve-"

"Stop," Boruto finally says. The last thing they needed was a battle to the death. Things were bad enough as is. So slowly, ever so slowly, Boruto began to lower his hands from his face. It took a great deal of effort, like pushing a boulder down a mountain, but at last his eyes were unveiled.

"Ugh, I can't see anything," Sarada says in frustration as her hand touches all across his face and over his eyes, as if making contact with his eyelids would allow her to see them.

"I'm on it."

Scuffling nearby and a few short minutes later a fire shone ablaze, blinding them all for an instant as their eyes took to adjusting to the abrupt change of light.

And then a gasp.

"Oh my…" Sarada says, mouth agape as she stares into his blue pupils.

Rinali comes closer, still hesitant but curious all the same. Sarada gives her a brief glance of astonishment and the red-headed girl all but recoils to the opposite side of the cave, eyes wide in astonishment.

The initial pain forgotten, Boruto pushes himself off the floor, looking from Sarada to Rinali.

"What? What's wrong?" he says, fear laced in his tone.

"Boruto...your eyes," Sarada finally says.

He quickly glances around the dimly lit cave, as if a mirror would appear in his time of desperate need. "What's wrong with them? Is it that bad?"

But before Sarada could answer, Rinali interrupts. "Both of your eyes! What the hell is wrong with them?"

Boruto briefly forgets about his eyes to stare at Sarada's, and it's just then that he notices what Rinali was referring to. Instead of the typical black that he was so accustomed to seeing, Sarada's eyes were a color much different: red, with a single black spindle on each pupil. It was the infamous eyes of the Uchiha. But what were they called? He recalls it sounded similar to the Byakugan, the eyes of the Hyuga. He racks his brain for the name. _Fairygan, Berrygan, Hairygan, Cherrygan...no, none of those. _Despite the serious aura, he can't help but chuckle at the thought of a bloodline trait being called a Hairygan. Then he finally remembers.

"Sharingan! Sarada you have the Sharingan!"

* * *

_Sarada Uchiha_

_Sharingan? _No way. It's impossible. But then again, everything made sense now; the way she was able to tail Rinali in the dark and keep up with her pace despite her several attempts at throwing Sarada off the right trail. Her mouth twitched upwards into a small smile as she stares blankly at a wall across from her, lost in deep thought at the meaning behind this new awakening of power.

"The Sharingan? Really?" she asks Boruto for confirmation.

He nods, tilting his head to get a better look at her eyes. As Sarada stares back at him she's hit with the recollection of why she was initially so shocked at Boruto's face when he lowered his hands. Because it wasn't just her eyes that had changed.

"And you, Boruto, the Byakugan!" she exclaims. Boruto wasn't hit with falling rock or hurdling flame just as Sarada had originally thought. Despite the cave collapsing, Boruto had little to no injuries from the impact, save for a small gash running along his arm. His eyes, however, shown something different, not exactly wounds but a very unnatural rhythm of veins protruding all around his blue eyes, eyes that were practically glowing cyan now. They were bizarre; they were magnificent.

"Seriously? Where? I gotta see!"

Sarada shakes her head at him and laughs, relieved that he was fine and even more ecstatic at the dual awakening of eyes. Sharingan and Byakugan in one day; who would've thought chasing after the red-head would turn out to be a good thing?

Ah, yes. The red-head. Her and Boruto were so excited about their new eyes that she'd almost forgotten Rinali was present.

She was watching them from across the cave, her face a flurry of amber as she stared at the pair.

"You have _got _to be kidding me," she says, anger practically radiating from her. She balls her hands into fists, and for the first time since she'd entered the Leaf Village, the fists were not meant for Sarada. Instead she punches the cave wall in frustration, beating away at it again and again until her knuckles were bloody with regret.

"No, no, no! This wasn't how it was supposed to go!" she shouts at no one in particular.

Blood trickles to the ground.

Sarada and Boruto watch her silently as she begins her second wave of pounding.

"_I_ was supposed to get the Sharingan! _Me!_"

Tears join the pool of blood by her feet.

"This isn't fair," she whispers, relaxing her fists and slumping to the ground. She ruffles through her bag before taking out the scroll Sarada had been so desperate to recover. Giving it one final glance, she tosses it in Sarada's direction.

"Here, you can have the dumb thing,"

Sarada catches the scroll and holds it limply between her fingers as she tries to relish her victory. The whole point of chasing the red-head was to obtain the scroll, after all. So why didn't she feel happy about the situation?

Looking at the girl across her now, glum with eyes downcast, hugging her feet pushed up against her chest, Sarada can't help but pity her. It was a strange feeling, foreign to her in a way that didn't make sense, like sympathizing the assailant instead of the victim. A quick glance at Boruto tells her that he feels the same, but still the cave remained silent as the trio made no effort to console one another.

Boruto was the first to haul himself over to examine the cave entrance, sealed off with mounds of rocks of all shapes and sizes. He pushed and shoved to no avail and returned more disheartened than when he departed. Sarada got up next and paced back and forth between each end of the cave, thinking and analyzing a possible escape route, only to admit that no alternative escape route existed. Rinali just threw the blocked entrance a glance before she shrugged and said the obvious, "Shouldn't your parents realize you're missing by now?"

Sarada and Boruto stared at one another before realization dawned on them.

"Maybe it's not as late as we think," Boruto says.

Sarada shakes her head. "It's 3 hours past midnight,"

"And how do ya know that?" he asks.

She points to a puddle of water being accumulated from the slow drips of the stalactites above. "Water clock," she says. "I've been watching it since the cave collapsed,"

Boruto visibly nods although Sarada can tell he still doesn't quite understand how time can be told through water dripping. Even Rinali looks quite impressed.

"So why hasn't anyone come looking for us yet?" the young Uzumaki asks.

"Maybe they are looking," Sarada shrugs.

"I hope so," Rinali mutters. "We're gonna miss the graduation exam at this rate,"

With all the events of the day, Sarada had nearly forgotten that they were scheduled to take their exam in just a few hours. Nearly being crushed to pieces by tumbling rocks that trap you in a dark and smelly cave tends to give priorities to other matters.

"Ya know, I could care less about the graduation exam right now," Boruto pipes. "I just want something to eat!"

And as if on cue, his stomach lets out a roar that resonates within the cave, a grumble so loud and so long that it was still heard long after it had ceased. When the cave finally falls silent again, the trio look at each other briefly with wide eyes before all three of them erupt into a frenzy of laughter.

And for the moment, things were not as bad as they seemed.

* * *

_**Author's Note:**__** Here's another chapter so soon after the last! Hope you guys enjoy it! **_

_**Also, special shout out to greenmut99 who reviewed every single chapter I wrote. Haha, you made my day!**_

_**And of course, thank you to everyone else who continues to read and review my story, you guys are the best!**_


	13. Risky Gambles

**_Chapter 12_**

_Sakura Haruno_

Things were far worse than they seemed.

After five bodies of the exact same individual were retrieved from a cave just outside of the Leaf Village, every shinobi was working hard to decipher the discarded bodies.

"They're all…missing organs," Hinata Hyuga says, her Byakugan scanning the bodies up and down.

Sakura nods. "A different organ from each one,"

"Which means they're…"

"Not clones." Sakura finished. Her mouth was agape at the scene that lay before her. Five of the exact same individual, all missing organs and cast aside without a second thought. But who could have done such a thing? And how?

The bodies were found just past evening and Sakura found it crucial to call in every Kunoichi who could assist with the situation. And since the Hokage was out of the village for the time being, the circumstances were all the more dire. She needed to get to the bottom of things immediately, but as minutes turned to hours, she found herself sleep deprived and dumb stricken, not a step closer to solving the mystery than she was eight hours ago.

Hinata exhales and shuts her eyes after examining the bodies for what seems like the hundredth time. Other Kunoichi shake their heads in frustration while still more slump down in defeat. And as much as Sakura loathed the idea of quitting, she knew that working while exhausted proved to be nothing more than a hindrance. She thanks the medical ninja for their efforts and dismisses them to get some rest, although failing to do so herself.

"You're not leaving?" Hinata asks her, standing by the doorway.

Sakura gives her a tired smile. "Just a little longer,"

"Then I'll stay with you…"

"No." Sakura says, holding her hand up. "You should go check on Boruto and Himawari,"

"And Sarada?"

"She's used to me working late shifts, she'll be fine."

Hinata gives her one final look of concern before acquiescing and leaving Sakura alone to her thoughts, thoughts that threaten to dismember her if she fails to solve the mystery at hand. Sakura pushes her legs off the ground where she was sitting to further inspect the corpses. The same boy, five of him, all with a small face and slicked back hair and wide eyes that bore nothing but pupils whiter than snow.

She furrows her brow. These kids couldn't have been older than her own daughter, and yet here they lie, void of life as compensation for another's needs. Sakura has no idea who the kids before her are, what their names were, their hobbies, their dreams. But what she _does_ know is that they didn't deserve to die, and the fact that their unblinking eyes remain unwavered made her all the more furious. She slams her fist down on one of the corpse bearing tables and watches it collapse beneath her tremendous strength. Tears well up behind her closed eyelids, and just as they were getting ready to spill, a ground rattling tremor startles her back into reality. For a brief moment, she thought that her fist of frustration had done more damage than intended, its resonating force destroying a hospital pillar or wing. But a second glance showed her the true source of the commotion. It was Hinata Hyugua, her chest heaving, her eyes reflecting similar dismay as Sakura's, but for a reason unknown to her.

"Boruto," she says, panting. "He's gone."

* * *

_Rinali Uchiha_

"And then," Rinali says, her animated hands moving to and fro. "I punched him in the face so hard that his nose broke," she finishes, smiling triumphantly.

"And all because he called you…"

She folds her arms. "Bloody fungi," she says grudgingly.

Boruto and Sarada burst into uncontrollable laughter.

"It's not funny!" she exclaims.

"It kinda is!" Boruto replies with tears in his eyes.

"Why fungi?" Sarada asks, wiping away tears of her own.

Her face turns red with embarrassment. "My mom gave me a mushroom-cut. My hair barely reached my ears,"

"I want to see that!" Boruto says ecstatically. "You don't happen to have an old picture with ya, do you?"

"Of course I do; I carry one around all the time to remember the good old days,"

"Really?" he beams.

"_No."_

He shrinks back in disappointment as Sarada adjusts her glasses and sits forward.

"It doesn't seem like you had many friends," Sarada acknowledges.

Rinali shrugs. "Friendship is a lie. People only act like they care for you if it benefits them somehow. But as soon as a better opportunity presents itself, they disappear."

Sarada wanted to argue the point, but something about the way Rinali's downcast eyes shown sadness far deeper than the guise above was enough to halt her before she was able to say a word. And for some odd reason, Sarada wanted nothing more but to reach out to the red head before her, to console her, to understand her. And maybe she would have if Boruto hadn't shoved her face smack into the floor.

"Get down!" he yells.

Rinali immediately follows suit and flattens her face to the ground just as she feels a shuriken wiz by her face.

The fire that the trio had ignited earlier was extinguished through the ruckus, but by whom, Rinali is unsure.

"What's going on?" her panicked voice shouts to the blackness around her.

"We're not alone," Boruto says from somewhere off to her right.

The three fall silent as they listen for their assailant but Rinali is unable to hear anything past the dripping of water, each droplet making her jump where she lay frozen to the dirt trodden ground. But after what seemed like eternity, Rinali gathered the courage to sit up slowly, flexing her muscles and reassuring herself that it was impossible for someone to find their way inside a sealed off cave.

"I think you two are overreacting-" she begins.

"Rinali, behind you!" Sarada screams.

Rinali whirls around and raises her arms just in time to block a lethal kunai attack to the face. Warm blood trickles down her elbow as she throws a punch blindly into the cold air. She kicks out beneath her and turns to throw another punch to her back but her blows are met with emptiness. She must look ridiculous, fighting blindly, but the adrenaline of the first attack was enough to keep her from remaining still.

After a few more useless attempts, she relaxes her arms to her sides and looks around helplessly as darkness encompasses the dense space surrounding her.

"I..can't see…anything," she says panting.

"Stay back," Sarada says, jumping in front of her. "Boruto and I will take care of this guy,"

"Yeah," Boruto adds. "You can count on us."

Rinali remains silent, wishing she could be of some help but failing to possess the eyes that would do so.

So she falls back as two kids she despised only moments before prepare to gamble away their lives to protect her.

* * *

**_Author's Note:_****_ Wow guys! Sorry for the super long delay with the chapter. I didn't get bored of writing or anything but I began summer courses a month ago and I've just been so overwhelmed since then! I'll try to go back to updating more frequently though._**

**_Anyways, hope you enjoy this chapter! Sorry it's short, I just really wanted to upload something._**

**_Also, can we talk about Naruto Gaiden? I'm super sad it ended, but satisfied all the same. I wish it was longer than 10 chapters though!_**


	14. Sightless Eyes

_**Chapter**_** 13**

_Boruto Uzumaki_

Under normal circumstances, Boruto would have been terrified to fight in the dark. But his newly awakened Byakugan made him feel otherwise, and he found himself actually excited for an opportunity to test his eyes out. Sarada stood beside him with clenched fists, and although her face didn't show it, he knew that she felt the same.

"Alright," Boruto says, a smirk playing across his face. "Don't be shy, come out,"

Much to his surprise, the assailant complied, revealing himself from the rock he was hiding behind. Boruto's eyes followed the mysterious figure, a man about twice his height wearing a cloak both long and dark enough to obscure his true form.

"Well done," he says, his raspy voice making Boruto cringe. "Your eyes are impressive. Still," he continued. "There's only one kind of eyes I desire…the Sharingan."

And then he launches forward at full speed, so fast that Boruto barely had time to register the attack as both he and Sarada were knocked to the side. Sarada was quicker at anticipating the blow but only managed to partially dodge the punch, skidding to a halt next to Boruto as he fell flat on his back, several feet away from where the anonymous figure stood right over Rinali.

"It's a real shame that this one failed to awaken the Sharingan," he says, grabbing her by the throat. She struggles against his grasp, writhing in agony as air fails to reach her lungs. "Pathetic."

"Leave her alone!" Boruto screams, charging at the figure before him.

With a flick of a wrist, the man throws Rinali headlong into Boruto, and the two hit the ground with a _thud_.

"Dammit!" Boruto exclaims. He could feel blood spilling over his hands, taste the iron as it drenches his lips. Getting near the guy was next to impossible, let alone getting a hit on him. And although he was outnumbered two to one, experience was not something he lacked. Rinali lay panting on the floor besides Boruto, holding her throat as she gasps for breath.

"Are you alright?" he asks her.

She gives him a brief nod, although her face says otherwise. Still, injuries could be healed, death, however, was permanent.

Boruto returns his attention to the assailant before him, debating whether he should attempt another attack or stand guard by Rinali. But Sarada had already made up her mind. She matched the Cloak's speed and was behind him almost instantly, kunai in hand as she swings the blade forth.

But he dodges her attack, stepping to the side as he turns to face her

_An opening!_

Boruto charges at the Cloak's back, hand open as he preps for _that_ jutsu. Ever since he saw Sarada and Rinali spar in the woods not too long ago, saw the pair's fire-style technique, their incredible strength, he was filled with the sour taste of envy and of irritation, both of which he directed towards his father.

_"So that's how it is," the Seventh Hokage had said to Boruto in the few minutes he was spared to speak with him._

_"We haven't even become shinobi yet and I'm already falling behind!" the young Uzumaki complained._

_Naruto shut his eyes and rubbed his head, irked by his son's request. "I'm sorry, Boruto. I just don't have the time. Maybe your mother can-"_

_"Save it," Boruto interrupted. He shoved his hands in his pockets and made for the door to leave his father's office. "I wish you were more like Sarada's dad."_

_He exits the workspace and grudgingly makes his way home, head bowed in defeat. But while his downcast eyes were too preoccupied with the dust ridden ground, he failed to see the figure in front of him, standing tall and still as it waited for the inevitable collision._

_Boruto walked smack into the man before him, so far lost in thought that the impact startled him much more than it should have. _

_"Hey! What the-huh? Dad?"_

_"Now you didn't really think I was going to let you get away with comparing me to _Sasuke_, did ya?"_

_Boruto smiled long and wide, a mirror image of his father's own grin, glee reflected in each other's eyes. But their glee was far too short-lived._

_"Again!" his father commanded. They had begun their training at dawn the following day, and would continue to do so for the coming weeks. Training at such an early hour was his father's way of compensating for time he could be working, much to Boruto's discontent. Regardless, he was still training with his father, not a shadow clone, but his actual dad. _

_Boruto furrowed his brow in concentration as he lifted his palm once more and begun channeling chakra straight into its center, exerting extra force into keeping its spherical form while rotating the energy all the same. And it was spinning, faster and faster and faster, with a blue core that grew into a perfect ball of sparks. _

_Boruto's face lit up. "I did it! Look dad, I-"_

_At that moment, the chakra contained within the sphere began to fluctuate, its sparks flying in all directions as the energy dissipated into the surrounding air, leaving nothing but a dejected Boruto with an overly singed hand. _

_"Dammit!" _

_He looked over to where his father was watching, critiquing his every move. He was half way through his second week of attempting to perform the Rasengan, a special jutsu that requires unprecedented mastery, a jutsu his father managed to master in just a week at his age. The 7__th__ Hokage merely smiled back at him, giving him the thumbs up to keep going, to keep trying. So Boruto did._

And now was the moment that all his hard work would finally pay off, his long hours of training with sore muscles and blistered hands would finally surmount to victory.

Chakra began to collect in the center of his open palm, its core a deep blue of swirling energy, not unlike the one he had formed during his training. Except this time it was different, it _felt _different. The sphere grew bigger and bigger, adrenaline coursed through his veins, his heartbeat began to race, time was frozen as his Rasengan took a fully-fledged form within his grasp. Now was his chance, there was no time to waste.

He ran forward, his hands heavy with the weight of the Rasengan as he directed the attack straight at the cloaked man ahead. He was quick to notice Boruto's movements but attempting to dodge him would be futile, for Sarada was advancing from his rear, preparing another attack of her own. They had him boxed in.

Boruto smirked as he let his arm collapse down onto the figure before him, the weight of the chakra dissipating as the energy parted to collide with its new target. And yet, the collision never occurred. There were no screams of agony or pools of blood or even a slight trace of pain on the assailant's face. All that remained was the cloud of a ball of energy that now ceased to exist. Boruto's Rasengan had failed. Again.

"You have _got _to be kidding me!" Boruto yelled.

There was a brief moment of silence before the Cloak chuckled aloud as he grabbed Boruto by the arm and blocked Sarada's attack with his free hand, shoving her hard into the stone laden wall. She groaned as she fell to the ground, helpless and weak, clutching her stomach at a bruise Boruto cannot see.

"Damn you!" Boruto screams at the Cloak, struggling to break free of his grasp. "What do you want from us?"

"Silly boy, I already told you what I want," he says as he walks over to wear Rinali stands idle with blindness.

He pulls out a kunai knife and presses the sharp blade to Boruto's throat, the cold metal piercing his skin ever so slightly.

"The Sharingan is awoken through adversity, calamity, during times of desperate need," the Cloak says to Rinali. "This is your last chance, little girl. Awaken the Sharingan or your friend here dies,"

_Dies?!_

"I…I…can't," Rinali stutters, her trembling voice only adding to Boruto's anxiousness.

_Oh man,oh man! I don't want to die!_

"That's a shame," the Cloak sighs. "I was hoping to leave with 2 pairs of eyes tonight,"

Now Boruto really begins to panic. _This guy's the real deal. _He thinks.

_No, no, no, I can't die! _

Sarada lay immobilized behind him.

_There's still so much I haven't done!_

Rinali stands frozen ahead of him.

_So much I haven't seen!_

"Oh well," the Cloak says with a tone of finality. He raises his arm.

Boruto squints his eyes as he ceases to struggle against the firm grasp holding him. He grimaces in apprehension; there was nothing more he can do now.

And then it comes. A thrust, a scream of agony, a pool of blood as he's dropped to the floor. Only neither was his.

Boruto looks up to see Rinali's arm buried deep within the Cloak's chest, the Cloak himself seeming nothing less than startled by the girl's spout of sight. _She must have done it, she must have awakened the Sharingan!_

"But…how? Your eyes remain unchanged,"

Boruto tilts his head in confusion and realizes the Cloak's words to be true; Rinali did _not _have the Sharingan. Then, indeed, how?

"Don't underestimate me," she says, pulling her own blade out of the assailant, frustration evident on her face. "My mom's a _sensory _type. Eyes are not the only way of seeing,"

The Cloak laughs, a loud and harsh sound that reverberated throughout the cave. "You feigned helplessness and used your own friend as bait," he says through gasps.

"It worked, didn't it?" Rinali smirks.

"Indeed," he answers, composing himself. "But merciless all the same. Perhaps you really are an Uchiha."

"You have your own pair of Sharingan, why do you need another?" Rinali asks, ignoring the last comment.

"For Itachi, of course."

Rinali's dumbstruck expression mirrored his own, but as she opened her mouth to ask the question playing on his mind, the blocked cave entrance exploded open as two shadows rushed inside.

The faster of the two was a pink haired woman, tall and slim with a fist ready to cause mayhem.

Sarada's mom.

But before she could do her damage, the Cloak laughed one last time as he disappeared into a swirl that sucked itself into oblivion, leaving behind nothing but dust and blood and the memory of his presence.

Sakura immediately scrambles to begin healing Sarada's wounds while Boruto's own mother presses her gentle palm over his injuries.

She spares Rinali a quick "Are you alright?" to which Rinali responds with a nod, before she proceeds to bombard the two kids with question after question regarding the events that played out tonight, or rather, this morning.

But Boruto's answers were a slur of words as he faded into unconsciousness, far too tired and weak to answer with anything of real significance. His mother's curiosity can wait. All that mattered now was that he gets some rest along with a large bowl of ramen when he wakes. And although the day was just beginning, Boruto was glad it was finally over.

* * *

**_Author's Note: To answer Solarflare777's questions: Bolt and Boruto are the same person, Bolt is just the English translation for Boruto. I started off my story referring to him as Bolt but then I decided to use the name Boruto instead since none of the other names got an English translation. Sorry for the confusion, I'll go back and change all the Bolts' to Boruto soon. And no, there isn't a story before this one! But we get an explanation/flashback's of the whole Sasuke and Karin deal, so basically everything will make sense in the future, haha :)_**

**_To Lamelinam: I completely agree with everything you said! I'll include my own input of the Gaiden series in the next chapter of mine, seeing as I'm super swamped right now, but it definitely goes along the same lines as your opinions. (I also thought the whole Karin thing was very predictable red-herring)._**

**_Thanks for the reviews everyone!_**

**_P.S. I didn't have time to edit this, so sorry in advanced if there's any mistakes. I'll go back and make some corrections soon! _**


	15. Failure

**_Chapter 14_**

_Rinali Uchiha_

She was in a meadow, a vast canvas of green speckled with red. Roses. The sky above shone a clear blue, like sapphire, with birds flying to and fro in it's midst. And the sun, an ethereal light illuminating the scene, much to the point that Rinali was obliged to shield her eyes from its glow. The sight was nothing short of magnificent.

And Rinali was happy, oh so happy. She ran along the grass, jumping and laughing as the soft blades tickled her bare feet. She knew she shouldn't go far, her mother had warned her not to, but what harm could exist in such a place as this?

The vegetation swayed in the distance as a warm breeze flowed past, carrying with it Rinali's hair and temporarily blinding her with her own scarlet strands. She tripped and fell face first into the ground, mud staining her right cheek. And although she felt no pain, her hand still reached to touch her face, only to return with blood streaked fingers. But there was more blood. The roses, the sky, the blazing sun, all transformed into a pool of red surrounding her. Rinali's smile faded as her heart began to pound against her chest. She needed to find her mom.

Only her feet were frozen to the ground, too weak to move but strong enough to keep her standing. That's when she felt it. Not exactly pain, but not a pleasant feeling either. Nausea, accompanied by an odd sensation in the pit of her stomach as the world around her spun out of control. She buckled her head, placed her hands over her ears, praying for her mom to come to her rescue, only to find more blood, this time dripping from a large wound in her chest. And it was growing by the second. Bigger and bigger, consuming her until she was no more.

No more.

* * *

Rinali wakes with a start. Beads of sweat slide down her face as she gasps for breath, panting from the weight of her dream. Her pupils dilate, still struggling to grasp her surroundings. She shuts her eyelids and pauses a moment before opening them again. Beds, three of them, white curtains, and IV's. She was in a hospital. The other beds were occupied by a dark haired girl and another figure who slept turned the other way. Sarada. And the other must be Boruto. That's right. She finally remembered. The cloaked man, the fight, gambling Boruto's life. Everything.

"You don't look so well," Sarada acknowledges from the bed besides her. Her eyebrows were raised as she continues to stare at her with a questioning expression.

Rinali's cheeks flush red with embarrassment. _She must have seen the whole thing._

"I'm fine," Rinali mutters. "And it's rude to stare at people while they sleep," she snaps.

"Technically you were waking up,"

"Because you were staring,"

"You can't possibly know that,"

Boruto groans from off to the side, not awake, but clearly irritated, even in his sleep, of the two Uchihas' constant bickering.

The girls fall silent. Rinali relaxes her back on the pillow behind her while Sarada does the same. She was unsure how she felt about her half sister. The events of the previous day incited a whirlwind of emotions: hate, admiration, envy. But as for which took precedence, she was unsure.

And although their exchange was brief, someone must have overheard their argument, for moments later the 7th Hokage entered the room, followed by both Sarada and Boruto's mom, and lastly, her father.

"Glad to see you two are up," Naruto acknowledges with a smile. "You guys doing well?"

Rinali and Sarada nod in unison. "Great!" he continues. "Listen, I know this seems abrupt, but we need you both to tell us everything you can remember from the previous night,"

_Everything? _Where would they even start?

"Well," Sarada begins. "The three of us decided to go train in the forest, last minute practice before the graduation exams, and then…"

Rinali's eyes went wide as she listened to Sarada continue to tell lie after lie about the events leading up the mysterious man. _Why was she covering for her?_

The adults were all watching Sarada with deep intent. Boruto had stirred awake from the sound of their voices and was now sitting up in bed, rubbing his eyes groggily, as he too listened.

"Did he mention _why _he wanted your eyes?" Sakura asks Sarada once she finished telling the tale.

Sarada shrugged and looked towards Rinali, who imitated the motion. "He said he needed them for someone...I'm not exactly sure who. I forgot his name." Rinali says.

"Itachi," Boruto pipes from the corner.

"What?" Sasuke asks.

"He said that the eyes were for Itachi." When no one says anything in response, Boruto laughs and relaxes his back, arms behind his head. "Whoever that is, anyways. Not like he's getting new eyes anytime soon."

But something was off. The adults were still, their faces grave for a reason unbeknownst to Rinali.

"Sasuke," Naruto says.

"I know."

Sarada, who was watching the whole interaction with keen interest, poses the obvious question. "Who's Itachi?"

A pause.

"A person of the past," Sasuke replies.

"But who-"

"It's none of your concern." he says with a tone of finality, putting an immediate halt to the topic.

Sarada visibly flinches as her father's words hit her smack in the face. She struggles to maintain her neutral expression, her unfaltered stony face, but her rising anger was threatening to spill over. Sakura notices and is by her daughter's side in an instant, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder and soothing Sarada's rage. At least temporarily.

_Itachi._ What about this name could bring such discomfort to Rinali's father? To the Hokage?

Naruto clears his throat. "Don't you guys worry, it's just adult stuff," he says, flashing his signature goofy smile. "Anyways, there's something else we'd like to talk to you about,"

And then he pulls out something Rinali had almost completely forgotten about. The reason they were all in the hospital, the true source of all the commotion - the scroll.

Rinali's eyes widen. She stares at Sarada, who looks at Boruto, whose gaze falls back on Rinali.

"Now who's the wise one that thought of cheating through the graduation exam?" he asks with a smirk.

"Uh…"

"Well, you see…"

"It's nothing really…"

Naruto, who appeared to be enjoying the guilty expressions of the children before him, continues. "Well, if no one will fess up, I'm going to have to automatically fail all three of you,"

"_What?!" _the trio shouts in unison.

There was absolutely no way that Rinali was going to fail the graduation exam. Especially without having the chance to take it in the first place. Besides, she hadn't even had the chance to so much as take a _glimpse _at the scroll's contents. All because of that wretched Sarada. Why couldn't she just leave her be? The events of the past day, along with the enigmatic emotions it ensued, dissipated, and all of Rinali's bitter feelings towards her half sister returned with full force. But just as she opened her mouth to speak, Sarada beat her to the punchline.

"It was her," she says, pointing a finger at Rinali.

_So much for having her back._

"Please," Rinali scoffs. "It belongs to you,"

"She's lying. She stole it and ran off into the woods,"

"And then I gave it to her because I knew she couldn't pass the graduation exam without it. You're welcome,"

"That is _not _true. You were cornered!"

"You couldn't corner me if your life depended on it!"

"It belongs to me," Boruto interrupts. Everyone turns to stare at him. "I was the one that stole it from my dad's office,"

_What on earth was he doing?_

"Boruto…" Sarada says, her brow furrowed.

"Passing the exam means a lot to these two," he continues. "So just fail me. Like father, like son. Right dad?" he adds with a laugh.

Naruto's face softens. "I appreciate you trying to cover for your friends, Boruto," he says. And then he opens the scroll, long and wide, so that its contents are clearly visible for Rinali, Sarada, and Boruto to read. That is, if it _had _any contents.

They all look from the Hokage to the scroll and back at the Hokage again, a puzzled expression evident on their faces.

"I was too lazy to actually write anything inside," Naruto says with embarrassment. "It's a lot easier to just type things up nowadays,"

The trio let out a sigh of relief, a breath they didn't know they were holding to begin with. They all visibly relaxed. Sarada reclined on her pillow, Rinali unclenched her fists, while Boruto completely fell back on his bed, ready to resume his interrupted nap.

"With that being said," Naruto continues. "You all fail anyways."

They immediately sit up again.

"WHAT?!"

"But the scroll's empty!"

"We didn't cheat!"

"This isn't fair!"

Sakura steps in. "I hate to break it to you," she says. "But you've been asleep for a few days now. You missed the exam,"

"A few days?" Rinali questions. "Our injuries couldn't have been that bad."

Growing up with a medical mother of her own, Rinali knew that only dire situations required a person to remain unconscious for days at a time.

Sakura laughs nervously. "Well, I instructed the other Kunoichi to keep you asleep through your IV's, at least until we could run all the proper tests,"

"Tests for what?"

She hesitates. "Just possible infections, is all,"

Rinali stares at her skeptically. She was lying. Or at least not telling the truth in its entirety. But before she could get a chance to question her further, Boruto interrupts.

"I don't understand why we can't just take the test now," he complains. "We have an excuse for missing it, afterall,"

"Unfortunately, some of our Jonin went missing recently," the Hokage says, a solemn look on his face. "Even if you were to take the exam and pass, all the available Jonin have alreadybeen assigned to teams,"

"So that's it?" Sarada says with disbelief. "We have to wait an entire year because no one can train us?"

"I'm sorry, Sarada," her mother consoles.

A long silence overwhelms the hospital room. The children were in absolute incredulity while the adults in deep remorse. So it was official; they had failed the graduation exam. Rinali felt like she was falling, falling, falling. Like a heavy weight dropped into the pit of her stomach, a nightmare become reality. She looks over to see Boruto and Sarada mirroring her own discontent, but they too, were frozen in shock.

Then Sasuke speaks.

His voice startles Rinali. He hadn't said a word to them since the mention of that weird name, not that he was much of a talker, anyways. But it wasn't his voice that shocked her more than what he said next.

"I'll train them."

Naruto, Hinata, and Sakura all turn their heads towards the Uchiha, clearly not expecting this sudden turn of events.

"But Sasuke," Naruto says. "Are you sure?"

"Whoever that man was, he's taken a keen interest to these children," he says, referring to the Cloak the trio had faced a few days prior. "If anything, they need the training more than anyone else. And this way I'll be able to keep an eye on them as well."

Naruto furrows his brow as he takes this into consideration. He nods and clears his throat.

"If you insist," he says, his serious expression dissolving into one of glee, placing a hand on Sasuke's back. "Kids, meet your new trainer,"

The room erupts with cheerful cries from Rinali, Sarada, and mostly Boruto. And in all honesty, things couldn't have been any worse: the two half-sister Uchiha, eternal rivals, placed on the same team to compete before the eyes of their very father. But that was a problem Rinali would worry about another day. For the moment, she would revel in the fact that she was now to become a full-fledged shinobi, a shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village. Yes, she was happy.

And so were Boruto and Sarada.

After the seventh Hokage and Sasuke had exited the room to chat about the matter, Sakura and Hinata stayed back to congratulate their children. Hinata was sitting besides Boruto, stroking his hair as he punched fists into the air, much too energized to keep his arms still. And Sakura was besides Sarada, the two conversing and laughing occasionally at Boruto's restlessness.

But as for Rinali, she sits alone, back reclined as she tries to drown herself in her bedsheets, wanting nothing more to be unseen and unheard. She couldn't help but feel angry, so angry that her own mother wasn't besides her. She didn't understand why she had refused to move to the Leaf Village, despite the fact that both Rinali and Sasuke lived there, well mostly Rinali. Regardless, whatever grudge she held against the village, whatever bitter feelings reside in her past, surely she could cast them aside for the sake of her daughter.

_Some mother. _Where _was _she, anyways?

* * *

_**Author's Note:**_

**_Was finally able to get another chapter done! Hope you enjoy!_**

**_Now to address Lamelinam and misslaly19 about my thoughts on the Gaiden series: MISSLALY19 YOU SAID MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY! I definitely did not enjoy the fight scene with Naruto/Sasuke and Shin. I mean after facing Madara and Kaguya, they were having trouble with this? I did, however, enjoy the Sarada development, as rushed as it was. Looks like we're finally going to see a strong female fighter for once! Yay! I mean, don't get me wrong, Sakura is strong too, but we mostly see her healing instead of in the middle of direct combat. So this will be a nice change. _**

**_BUT ABOUT THE BORUTO MOVIE: I'm dying to see it! I already spoiled myself with the entire plot because I was so desperate to know what happens, but seriously, can't they bring the movie to the states faster? If you've already seen it then consider yourself lucky! I envy you!_**

**_Anyways, as always, thank you for all the reviews! _**


	16. Confrontation

**_Chapter 15_**

_Karin Uzumaki_

Karin Uzumaki was far away from the Leaf Village when the letter from Sasuke arrived. It came by hawk, a swift brown creature with wide feathered wings that dropped the scroll off and disappeared back into the sky almost instantly. As for the contents of the scroll, it was about her daughter, Rinali. She had been made a genin and was now an official shinobi of Konoha, led by none other than Sasuke himself as her sensei.

Karin couldn't help but chuckle aloud. Sasuke, a sensei? And leading a team with her own daughter too! The team was already a disaster in the making. Sasuke rarely spent time with Rinali. His visits were always quick and sudden, never lasting more than a week. And when he did visit, the most he had to endure from Rinali was the barrage of questions she'd ask regarding his trips throughout the five nations. But _training _her was another thing. She struggled with learning jutsu, not atypical of the common adolescent. However her inaptitude combined with her bad temper-that's a side Sasuke has yet to see.

Karin sighed as she set the scroll ablaze. She would give anything to be with her daughter, to watch her grow, become stronger. She knew all too well of the pains of growing up without parents, which is why she vowed to never leave her daughter's side. But the current situation took precedence. With another threat on the loose, Karin took it upon herself to capture and defeat the unknown assailant. And if that meant being away from her daughter for a short while then so be it. Rinali's protection was priority.

But Karin could feel herself getting weaker. She didn't sleep as much as she should nor eat as much as she used to. There was just never any time. Her tracking skills were pristine, and her speed wasn't all bad either, but whoever she was chasing was faster, smarter. It was like chasing a ghost. The moment she felt that she was gaining ground on him, his chakra trail would vanish, leaving only a brief residue that was still harder to follow.

Regardless, she continued. She was beginning to sense a pattern, a familiar dance that she was growing more and more accustomed to. And soon, very soon, she'll meet face to face with the person that stands between her and her daughter.

So she continued to trail an unknown person on a somewhat familiar path following a routine she knew all too well. She paused only long enough to catch her breath before returning to her pursuit, swiftly traveling through a forest laden with twigs and branches and underbrush that served no purpose in silencing her approach.

But then something unusual happened. The chakra she was so determined to catch had suddenly changed its course. It did not disappear nor travel faster, no. The dance she thought she was learning had altered its steps, steps that were now heading straight towards her direction.

Karin halted. The sudden change of events had startled her, and she was more than tempted to run in the other direction. _No. _She took a deep breath and adjusted her glasses to analyze the scene around her: a dank forest, much too noisy for the predator but much more comforting for the prey. She quickly concealed herself on a high branch hidden beneath the shadows of the neighboring greenery. And she couldn't have asked for a better angle. Not only would she be able to see her assailant enter the forest but she also had the advantage of ambushing him as well. It almost seemed too easy.

The mysterious figure entered the forest, quiet but visible all the same. Karin held her breath. He was a tall figure, cloaked in black robes that swept the floor behind him as he ventured deeper and deeper towards where Karin hid.

The air was silent. The birds, the crickets, the wind that shook the trees – all without a sound. Like nature itself could sense the ominous presence of the figure before them. And then a crackle in the air broke that silence. A low chuckle from within the man that only grew louder with each passing second.

"Hiding is futile, Uzumaki Karin,"

Karin froze. Her eyes widened. He knew who she was? How? Did he know her exact location too? Should she run or still try to ambush him? Whatever she was going to do, she needed to decide fast. She didn't take this man for a patient one. And if he knew who she was then there was a good chance he knew of her daughter as well. That was more than enough encouragement she needed to leap down and face him.

"Ah, there you are. Always the sneaky one,"

"What do you want?" Karin spat.

"I believe I should be asking you that question. You've been following me all these weeks, after all,"

Karin furrowed her brow. He knew this whole time? Then why stop her now?

"My, how much you resemble your daughter," he continued.

"If you even get _near _my daughter-"

"You know I didn't take her for an Uchiha when I first met her. But she has potential,"

Karin clenched her jaw. "_Met_ her?"

"Oh, yes," he said, lifting his cloak to reveal a gash just below his ribcage. "Courtesy of your daughter,"

She smirked. "And there's more where that came from,"

Karin ran forward, fist extended as she prepared to strike the first blow. But he was quick, as if he anticipated the attack, stepping aside and dodging her punch. She dove low and kicked out under him but he merely jumped over it, landing behind her with a kunai to her back. Beads of sweat slid down her face, nervousness racking her bones. She could practically feel the pointed blade piercing into her spine; practically see her opponent's sly smile curving upwards in triumph.

"Let's not be hasty, Karin," he says, his breath hovering just over her ear. "I just want to talk,"

"There's nothing to talk about," Karin replies through gritted teeth.

"But there is," he retracts his knife into his cloak as he begins to circle the forest. "About your daughter,"

Karin's gaze follows the mysterious man, trying to glimpse the features masked under his hood. If she could just see his face, get a description, then it's possible Sasuke could identify him, or at the very least, identify what sort of power they face.

"She's none of your concern,"

"Tell me," he ignores. "Does she know?"

Karin's head snaps up. "Know what?"

He lets out a mind numbing laugh. "Don't play dumb with me, Uzumaki Karin,"

She narrows her eyes at the figure. "No she doesn't, and I intend on keeping it that way,"

"You can only keep secrets for so long,"

"And what's it to you?" she retorts.

He pauses. Her face was to his back but, slowly, he turns around to face her. His hood falls off to reveal a shallow face, torn and bruised with stitches running all along his scars in bizarre patterns, holding together what little skin remains.

It was a face so horrendous that Karin stood frozen in shock, her eyes fixated on the creature before her; a face so gruesome that, despite her best efforts, continues to find its way into her nightmares. A face so haunting that, years later, and its image still lay etched into the deepest recesses of her mind.

"You!"

"It was nice seeing you again, Karin," he says, flashing a crooked smile before disappearing into the void.

Karin fell to the floor, tears staining her cheeks, every inch of her body trembling hard, much to the point that she struggled to breathe. She had hoped she would never have to see that face again, prayed that she would not have to relive that moment so long ago. But alas, her worst fear was now reality, and the only thing left to do was return to Sasuke and warn him.

As for herself, she needed to get to Rinali, take her out of the Leaf Village and move her somewhere safe, somewhere far away from Sakura's daughter. Because the cloaked man wasn't after Rinali, he was after Sarada.

* * *

_**Author's Note:**__** Sorry for the long hiatus guys! I had summer classes and was too focused on studying instead. I'm going to try and get another chapter out in a few days to make up for the delay. Anyways, hope you like this chapter and thanks for reviews from last time! I'm glad you all are liking the story :)**_


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